EXIT MR. KRUGER
With Lord Roberts’s return to Pretoria on the 21st of September commenced the general winding-up of affairs. At Schweizer Reneke the Boers had been giving trouble, and General Settle, with a force of 7000 men, went to the relief of the garrison and drove off the Boers, who lost heavily.
On the 25th General Baden-Powell returned from the Cape to Pretoria to take up his post as head of the Transvaal Police, and was promptly beset by upwards of 17,000 applications for appointments in his new force. Seventeen officers and 319 men of the Royal Canadian Regiment left on their return to Canada, while the City Imperial Volunteers prepared to follow in order to reach home before the 5th of November. These were in high feather: declared that they had acquired marvellous digestions from the practice of eating oxen that must have taken part in the Great Trek, and vaunted their ability to kill, clean, and cook anything from a chicken to a pig, and make chupatties fit for the Lord Mayor! They were still more exuberant when, early in October, they were reviewed, prior to departure, by the Chief, who commented on the fine performances of the gallant body of men, the conduct of the infantry under the Earl of Albemarle (who was at Cape Town invalided), and the excellent work done by Colonel Mackinnon. He spoke of their cheerful and ungrudging services, of their long marches, the privations and hardships, the fever and fighting they had endured, and he also alluded to the coolness and utility of the mounted branch under Colonel Cholmondeley. He wished them success on the resumption of their ordinary professions, and God-speed upon their journey.
The Volunteers had great cause to be proud of themselves, for on all occasions they had acquitted themselves admirably. On their entry into Pretoria their “soldierly bearing” had been remarked on by the Chief, in the subsequent battle of Diamond Hill, where young Alt lost his life, they had “greatly distinguished” themselves, and besides fighting twenty-six engagements had done some record marching, which has been noted elsewhere.
On the 31st of July some of the C.I.V. came into action at Frederickstad, losing one man killed and four wounded. Later they engaged in the chase after De Wet, throwing themselves with zeal into the pursuit, particularly on one occasion when they marched thirty miles in seventeen hours. Altogether, from first to last, the Volunteers had nobly thrown off the civic character for the honour of fighting for their country, had “put their backs into it,” and showed that clerk or shopkeeper, gardener or groom, “A man’s a man for a’ that!”
| (Pioneer). | (Private). |
The C.I.V. Battery under the command of Major M’Micking, H.A.C. (late R.H.A.) and Captain Budworth, R.A., Adjutant of the H.A.C., acting as Captain of the Battery, had been invaluable. They moved to Bloemfontein in June, proceeded along the Kroonstad line to suppress the activities of De Wet, and from thence came into action at Lindley. The Battery did excellent work, and finally silenced the Boer guns with their rapid and accurate fire. At Bethlehem they comported themselves gloriously, averted disaster, saving the guns and the situation. Afterwards, on the 22nd of September, again under Paget, they assisted in the surprise of Erasmus and capture of his camp.
Their official record of casualties to the end of August was: killed in action, 6; wounded, 65; died of wounds received in action, 3; died of disease, 44; taken prisoners and missing, 12; invalided home, 121.[13]
On the 27th, at Pienaar’s River Station, forty miles north of Pretoria, the force under the command of Colonel Lionel Chapman was attacked by the enemy, who had crept up within 200 yards either side, through the thick scrub surrounding the district. Three hours’ fierce fighting ensued, in which a Bushman was killed and three Munster Fusiliers were taken prisoners. These succeeded in escaping, owing to the number of the Boer wounded. Many of the foe, in addition to those slain in the fray, were killed owing to the explosion of a mine of whose existence they were unaware, and so great was the number of the wounded that ambulances had to be twice sent out to collect the Boer sufferers.
In the region of Groot Vlei Railway the marauders were surprised by a Mounted Infantry Patrol of the South Wales Borderers, under Lieutenants Dickinson and Gross, who themselves were surprised, on taking six prisoners, to find that their prizes were not Boers but Frenchmen!
September closed with the anniversary of the birthday of the beloved Chief, who was born at Cawnpore in 1832. Moltke did his great work at the age of seventy; Wellington accomplished his at the age of forty-six; and Roberts put the finishing touch to his crown of laurels at sixty-eight. Most appropriately, the day was chosen to announce the appointment of the gallant Field-Marshal to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the British army—an appointment which was looked upon both in England and abroad as an auspicious omen for the thorough reform of the British military system, and as a guarantee for the future defence of the Empire. The whole British world united in wishes—one may almost say prayers—for the long life and welfare of its grandest soldier.
On the 2nd of October, Colonel Rochfort, with the Dublin Fusiliers Mounted Infantry, attacked a Boer laager between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Fusiliers charging into the midst of the enemy with the bayonet, and capturing some nine marauders who had been actively engaged in the district for some time. The Boers, too, had their innings, for on the evening of the same day they succeeded in derailing, near Pan Station, a train containing three companies of the 2nd Coldstream Guards. On the unfortunate men they poured a vigorous fire with their Mausers, with the result that five were killed. Thirteen were injured, among them Second Lieutenant C. Heywood. Five men of other regiments were wounded.
An effort was made to surprise some of the Boer bandits at Bulfontein on the 4th, but Captain Henty (16th Middlesex Volunteers) found the party far stronger than his own small force, and was compelled to retire, which he did after three hours’ fighting. Six of his men were wounded, including Lieutenant Slater (57th Company Imperial Yeomanry). Lieutenant Thomas (Ceylon Mounted Infantry) was reported missing but believed to be dead.
During the early days of October the Boers made more despairing efforts to be aggressive. The engine of a train conveying some men of the Naval Brigade and Coldstream Guardsmen was derailed on night of 5th near Balmoral by the explosion of a dynamite cartridge, but fortunately no casualties occurred.
Signs were not wanting that the Boers were sickening of the war, for General Kelly-Kenny reported that an armed Boer was brought in a prisoner by two of his former countrymen who were wise enough to see the futility of kicking against the pricks. Commandant Dirksen, who had been commanding a Boer band opposed to General Paget, also surrendered. He had been kept in ignorance of the real state of the political outlook, and was allowed to proceed to Komati Poort to learn the truth regarding Kruger’s flight for himself. He returned satisfied, and gave up his arms. Thus very slowly affairs were moving on, the Boer belligerents thinning, the work of pacification growing gradually less troublesome.
General Buller took his departure for home on the 6th, leaving General Lyttelton in command at Lydenburg. The farewell meeting between the Chief and the troops who for nearly a year had followed him confidently through blood and fire, disaster and success, was remarkably touching, a demonstration which—leaving the formula of red-tape and blue-books—may almost be termed affectionate. Certainly, whatever may have been the opinion of the arm-chair critics at home, that of the “do or die” soldiers of Natal was expressed in a lusty and spontaneous burst of enthusiasm, which left no room for doubt.
On the 7th Captain Bearcroft and the Naval Brigade left, having first received the thanks of the Chief for the able assistance they had afforded during the war. The Natal Volunteers had also left for their homes, with many compliments on the excellent services they had rendered. On the 8th Lord Roberts visited the camp of the Australians and Rhodesians at Daspoort, and thanked the men for their devotion and bravery, especially for their fine defence of Elands River.
A chapter of accidents took place on the 9th. During the night a train conveying men and animals was upset near Kaap Muiden; three men were killed and fifteen injured—Lieutenant Hawkes sustaining a fracture of the leg—while over forty animals were killed or maimed. In the morning, to inquire into the mischief, Captain Paget, with Lieutenants Stubbs and Sewell and eighteen men of the Vlakfontein Garrison, went on an engine and truck to the scene of the disaster. The Boers, of course, were waiting their happy chance, and promptly assailed the party. The fighting at this time was fast and furious. On hearing of the attack Captain Stewart (Rifle Brigade) with forty men hastened to the rescue, and there, fighting, fell. A private in the Rifle Brigade was also killed, and among the injured were Captain Paget and Lieutenant J. H. Stubbs. Five men attached to the Royal Engineers were also wounded. Lieutenant Sewell, Royal Engineers, and ten men of the Rifle Brigade were captured.
At this period there was a good deal of enteric fever in Pretoria, and among the invalids, whose condition caused considerable anxiety, was Major Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein.[14] Not that his state at the time was in the least critical, but interest hung around him because he was, first, the grandson of the Sovereign; second, because he was a gallant officer and a prince; and lastly, because he was before all things a delightful comrade, as popular as he was genial. His death, which did not occur till fighting had developed into guerilla warfare, was deplored by all who were acquainted with him; and also by the nation at large, who knew how to appreciate the devotion to duty of one who, though born in the purple, preferred to take his share of the country’s work, and fight shoulder to shoulder with her defenders. His last wish was characteristic of his noble nature—he desired no royal resting-place, but elected to be buried “by the side of his comrades.”
On the 19th, in the grey of the dawn, Mr. Kruger slunk from South Africa on board the Dutch man-of-war Gelderland. With the utmost secrecy he was smuggled to sea to evade, not his foes the British, but his dupes the Boers, the luckless refugees who lusted for revenge on the man who had ruined their country, deceived, robbed, and deserted themselves. When he departed his moneybags were full! Theirs—his beloved people’s—were empty! Rich, he fled to escape the consequence of his own inflated obstinancy; beggared, they remained to endure the brunt of it! Round the debased fugitive it was impossible to cast the smallest glamour of sentiment. The absence of all sense of honour and truth, the sordid ambition and personal greed of the man, exposed now to the full, deprived him of the sympathy of those who had formerly watched his remarkable career with interest and admiration. Hitherto, most people had been prone to believe that the President of the Transvaal was, as the patriarchs of old, narrow-minded and obstinate no doubt, but saved by a simplicity that was picturesque as it was primitive. The romantic were even wont to look on him as another Cromwell of the English—a new Hofer of the Tyrolese—a brawny moral giant, to wonder at and revere. But, gradually, the massive peasant became transformed into the pinchbeck potentate, a despot with never an inkling of statesmanship to redeem the unctious sophistries and hypocritical cant with which he attempted to blind the world and himself. Now, it was impossible for his admirers to ignore the clay feet of their idol, and his compatriots, many of them, were forced to realise that his character, like the bar gold he paid to his creditors, was little more than a delusive show of amalgam. His last evasion declared that he had received “six months’ leave of absence for the benefit of his health.” So let it remain—a crumbling rung on the long ladder of his duplicity. There was more truth in the fabrication than he recked of. He had gone from his native land for six months—and as many more as he cared to take—and, if his flight were not for the benefit of his personal health, it was assuredly for the health of the great mass of human beings whose lives in the Transvaal had hitherto been asphyxiated by the narrowness of his prejudices and the autocracy of his rule! So, good-bye to him!
SIMON’S TOWN, CAPE COLONY
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen