South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 6 (of 8) / From the Occupation of Pretoria to Mr. Kruger's Departure from South Africa, with a Summarised Account of the Guerilla War to March 1901

by Louis Creswicke

JANUARY 1

Lord Kitchener, on the departure of Lord Roberts from the scene of his triumphs, had found himself confronted with a tangled skein of military affairs. The army, through loss by disease and death in the field, was a phantom of the army that was, and in consequence of the prodigious work that had been going forward, a proportionate amount of wastage and disorganisation had set in. The troops were here, there, and everywhere, just where fate had landed them after their chases of De Wet and their scurries to protect threatened posts on the lines of communication. At one point were knots of mounted men and guns in plenty, while at another there was found a mere handful of troops to maintain some important strategic position; here, remote and useless, were gathered batteries of artillery; there, where Boers threatened to pounce at any moment, a scarcely protected gun or two offered invitation to the clustering foe. In fact there had been a species of general post, and, as a natural consequence, brigades loosened from their original positions were often hovering perilously in mid-country with an uncertainty of purpose which was far from reassuring. For this reason it was but possible to act on the defensive till affairs should be righted; though Lord Kitchener’s giant brain bent itself to the load, and in a comparatively short time—a little over two months—things began to get once again into working order. Reinforcements had been demanded from England, and these, together with the force of newly raised Colonials, brought the number of troops about to operate in South Africa to over 500,000 men, half of whom consisted of field artillery, cavalry, and mounted infantry. Arrangements were made on a revised principle to meet the newer form that warfare had assumed. Owing to the necessity to dot bunches of troops in every direction, the old divisional commands were broken up, and brigades, grouped under the central command of a general of division, were fixed in definite positions, each working over a special area to a point where they would overlap or get in touch with other brigades who, working again under their special divisional commander, operated in like manner within their special radius. Thus the country was divided, as in a chess-board, into squares, but still more geometrically subdivided in order that, should necessity require it, the angles forming squares could point together on emergency and form a solid concentration at any place, their action being much as that of a kaleidoscope, which at one time breaks into particles of colour, or at another groups into masses of it, at will. As may be imagined, with this possibility of diverse movement, the position of the enemy, astute and slippery as they were, was hardly enviable. For one turn of the military kaleidoscope might bring them against the hard teeth of the converging brigades, while another might find them inextricably harassed by an army in their rear.

The towns were being garrisoned and stored to act as bases of supply for mounted troops scouring the country, and supply depots were so arranged as to be within two days’ journey of brigades, and thus enable these, if despoiled by the Boers, to hold on till provisions from another depot should reach them. Thus a sense of security began to prevail, while a corresponding sense of doubt and diffidence influenced the conduct of the Dutchmen. Nevertheless they continued active in their attacks on trains, convoys, and isolated posts, the nature of the attacks being invariably of the nature of a surprise. The operations, though involving great loss to the troops, and retarding the settlement of the country, produced no effect on the strategical position, and the position of the British troops in the important towns occupied by them remained impregnable. Ventersdorp, a central point of the Western Transvaal, which for some months had been in the hands of the Boers, was captured by General French, with small loss to himself. The garrisons of Jagersfontein and Fauresmith being withdrawn, the inhabitants seeking protection were removed to Edenburg. Ficksburg and Senekal were in the hands of the British, but in the northern part of the Cape Colony a commando, which was supposed to be surrounded by the British, had succeeded in slipping through the cordon and escaping into the Middelburg district. They captured a small patrol of Nesbitt’s Horse, and held up a train near Sherborne. Finding the town of Middelburg was held by the British, they dispersed and turned west in the direction of Hanover and Richmond, while the main body marched south, bent on a colossal loot and the recruiting of rebels. Engagements, with slight loss on either side, took place on the 1st and 2nd of January west and south of Middelburg. Meanwhile a western commando made for Carnarvon and tore on to Fraserburgh, with De Lisle and Thorneycroft’s columns thundering at their heels, losing horses in the heat of their rush, and living from hand to mouth, as it were, on the country they were harassing, but still succeeding admirably in evading the skill of their pursuers. Fortunately this rolling stone of a commando gathered little moss in the form of rebels, for though they received help in stores and supplies, and the British gained no information, the number of the enemy was little augmented by the invasion. Still, there was no knowing how much more to the south the Boers would penetrate, and how many sympathisers they would enlist, and how much damage they would do, and precautions for moral and material reasons were set on foot to frustrate their machinations.

Therefore the new year opened with a surprise for Cape Town in the form of the following call to arms:—

Prime Minister’s Office,
Cape Town, 31st December 1900.

In view of the fact that armed forces of the enemy have invaded this Colony, and that parties of them have penetrated south of Carnarvon in one direction and south of the town of Middelburg in another, and in view of the necessity for repelling such invasion as promptly as possible, the Government of this Colony has decided to call upon the loyal inhabitants, more especially of certain districts thereof mentioned in the annexed schedule, to aid the efforts which the military forces of her Majesty are making in that direction.

It is contemplated to raise a special force, to be called the Colonial Defence Force, to be utilised for the sole and exclusive purpose of repelling the present invasion, guarding railways and other lines of communication, and maintaining order and tranquillity in districts in which such measures are necessary.

Volunteers are called for to give in their names with a view to enrolment in this force to the Civil Commissioner of the division in which they reside, or to any officer specially appointed for that purpose, and whose appointment has been publicly notified.

Applicants should state:

(a) Whether they can ride and shoot.

(b) Whether they are prepared to serve as mounted men, and if so, whether they can provide their own horses, saddles, and bridles.

(c) Whether they are prepared to serve only in their own district or in any part of the Colony, it being clearly understood that the services of this force will not be utilised anywhere outside the boundaries of this Colony.

Persons whose services are accepted by the Government will receive pay at the rate of 5s. a day, with 2s. 6d. extra to those supplying their own horses, saddles, and bridles. Rations, forage, and arms will be provided.

Pay of officers and non-commissioned officers in proportion.

It is not expected that the term of service will be longer than three months.

The force will be under military control, but officers under the rank of Major will, as far as possible, be elected by the members of the force.

J. Gordon Sprigg.

SCHEDULE.

List of Districts to which this Notice is Specially Applicable.

Cape Town and Cape Division
Paarl
Stellenbosch
Worcester
Prince Albert
Beaufort West
Port Elizabeth
Uitenhage
Jansenville
Aberdeen
Graaf-Reinet
Cradock
Somerset East
Bedford
Fort Beaufort
Albany
Bathurst
Victoria East
Queen’s Town
Cathcart
Stutterheim
King William’s Town
Komgha
East London
Peddie

Any person resident in any other district and desirous of joining the force may send in his name to the nearest Civil Commissioner.

(Government Notice No. 8, 1901.)

Prime Minister’s Office,
Cape Town, 4th January 1901.

COLONIAL DEFENCE FORCE.

With reference to the enrolment of men of the above-mentioned force, the following orders are published for general information.

Sydney Cowper, Secretary.

I.—ARTILLERY.

An Artillery Contingent is being formed in connection with the above force of men who have already had training in Artillery Corps.

Application should be made to Kitchener Anderson, Esq., late Lieutenant, P.A.O.C.A., Artillery Quarters, Drill Hall, Darling Street.

II.—TOWN GUARD.

Enrolment will take place for

(1) Cape Town, at the Town House, Greenmarket Square,
(2) Green and Sea Point,
(3) Woodstock,
(4) Mowbray,
(5) Rondebosch,

—at the respective Municipal Offices.

(6) Claremont,
(7) Newlands,
(8) Kenilworth,
(9) Wynberg,

—at the Office of the Resident Magistrate, Wynberg.

(10) Muizenberg and Kalk Bay, at the Municipal Office.
(11) Simons Town, at the Office of the Resident Magistrate.

III.—GENERAL CONDITIONS.

The force raised will be organised in companies of 100 strong, under the orders of the Colonel Commanding Base.

The officers will be in proportion of one subaltern to every twenty-five men, and one captain to every 100. Officers will be elected by the men. N.C.O.’s will be appointed by the captains of companies. Only one-fourth of the effective strength of the corps will be called out at a time for service, except in case of emergency.

In the event of men being called out for active service, pay and allowances will be in accordance with the provisions of Government Notice No. 943, of the 31st December.

Men called out for drilling purposes only will be allowed five shillings per week, conditionally on their attending not less than two drills per week, of not less than one hour’s duration each.

As far as possible all drills will be held outside of office hours.

The character, formation, and duties of the Town Guard may be judged from the following rules, which enabled every loyal citizen to come forward for the protection of hearth and home:—

(1) Employers may enrol their own men, and obtain enrolment cards from the Town House.

(2) Members of every company are empowered to elect their own officers.

(3) Employers or captains of companies will be empowered to arrange their own times for drills.

(4) Captains will be empowered to detail the rotation for duty.

(5) In case of the Commandant finding it necessary to call out the Town Guard, he will make a levy upon all companies in equal proportions, that is to say, every company will be required to furnish an equal percentage of men.

(6) Volunteers of one company will be allowed to make arrangements with another company for drill.

(7) Several employers of a small number of men may join together to form a company.

(8) The duties of the Town Guard will consist in guarding positions, picket and patrol duty usually undertaken by the regular forces now being withdrawn for service further afield. The area of service of the Town Guard will be the limit of the Municipality.

(9) No member of the Town Guard will be employed for more than twenty-four hours at a stretch.

(10) The duration of service will not exceed three months; if, as all hope will prove to be the case, the danger to the peace of the Western Province be removed earlier, the Town Guard will be disbanded before the three months have expired.

These conditions applied equally to town and suburb.

In response to the “call” came a spontaneous, remarkable, almost mad rush of recruits. No such scene of martial ardour had taken place since the outbreak of the war. The excitement was intense. The Drill Hall, where Colonels Girouard, R.E., and Southey, and Captain Chester-Master were presiding, became a pandemonium, every man anxious to know how best he could assist, either by his personal efforts or by allowing those in his employ to “sign on,” and the streets, and clubs, and public conveyances literally buzzed with enthusiastic volunteers, who were itching to be “each of them doing his country’s work.”

It appeared that no section of the public would consent to be left out in the cold. Streaming to the banner came numbers of prominent townsmen, among them Messrs. R. M. Maxwell, Cecil Jones, L. Cloete, J. Rawbone (Somerset West), T. Bromley, Abe Bailey, G. Kilgour, C.E., A. Myburgh, E. Field, Colonel Coates, W. Duffus, and W. G. Rattray. Mr. R. Stuart Solomon was busily engaged as recruiting officer of the Defence Force, and was beset by volunteers Colonial born, who, when asked where they would like to serve—town districts or Colony—replied unanimously, “Anywhere!”

(Corporal).

(Private).

The spirit with which the Town Guard proposition was taken up was altogether without precedent, a striking demonstration of the solidarity of sentiment in the city, and within a few days the number of those eager to come forward in defence of home and district had reached 4000. As an instance of the practical zeal of the community, it may be mentioned that the Civil Service Company of the Town Guards (under Captain Callcott Stevens, who had previously seen active service with the D.E.O.V.R. in the Basuto War) was raised in the course of an afternoon! There was little martial glory to be attained in spending dreary nights on picket work or in sentry-go, therefore the enthusiasm with which these civilians threw themselves into the drudgery of battle for duty’s sake was as amazing as it was honourable. Naturally the partisans of Dutch independence looked on with dumb consternation, and in the face of this ardent multitude their hopes gradually trickled away.

The force was given in charge of General Brabant, while Colonel Cooper, the Base Commandant, took control of the arrangements of the Town Guards, and put the enrolling in the hands of the Major of each municipality, thus relieving the pressure on the Drill Hall Staff. Recruiting went merrily, and soon the first drafts for the Western Province Mounted Rifles, commanded by Captain Chester-Master, were equipped and despatched to Piquetberg Road, where their mounts awaited them—and where Colonel Du Cane expressed his approval of the expedition with which the admirable corps had been despatched. These were followed by others without loss of time. The crack infantry regiment of the Colony, the Duke’s, under the auspices of Colonel Goold Adams, was permitted to form a second battalion; a Cyclist Corps was raised, which included a number of well-known cyclists—Messrs. Donald Menzies, T. Denham, G. Roberts, A. M. Carroll, W. E. Tyler—with Captain J. G. Rose in command, and Lieutenants Brunton and Walker as subalterns; and the Cape Medical Staff Corps was augmented, in order that a medical company should be attached to every regiment of 800 men. Additional recruits were secured for the C. G. Artillery and the C. T. Highlanders, forces which had already distinguished themselves in the field; a Jewish Corps was originated under the direction of Mr. L. Waldman, assisted by a recruiting committee: Messrs. Harry Solomon, H. Goodman, S. Bebro, and J. H. Goldreich; while a Caledonian, a Legal, and a Cricketers’ Corps were also started.

Mr. Abe Bailey showed practical appreciation of the Cricketers, by giving a donation of £100 to the troop for the purpose of transport equipment, and the first troop, commanded by Lieutenant Feltham (late Protectorate Regiment)—and among whom were the well-known players: M. Bisset (sergeant), T. W. Bell, E. Yates, G. Macfarlane, J. Rushton, D. Home, C. Bartlett, E. Warren, E. Gill, H. Wrensch, C. M. Neustetel, J. Graham, K. Hunter, F. R. Brooke, L. H. Fripp, W. Reid, H. Stidolph, S. Horwood, A. Baker, W. Marshant, J. Fehrsen, R. Solomon, I. Difford, H. Reid, and L. J. Tancred—was soon under way.

Arrangements for forming a second troop were in course of completion. The Volunteer Veterans’ Association, by means of their Vice-President, Major J. Scott, introduced themselves to the favourable consideration of Colonel Southey; and the Scotsmen—so many were already in the field—rallied bravely round Messrs. Parker, M’Leod, Bowie, Collie, and Ramage, the energetic committee in charge of the formation of the Caledonian Corps.

Colonel Warren (late Kitchener’s Horse) was now appointed to the command of a regiment to be styled Warren’s Mounted Infantry—and a grand reunion of veterans of Prince Alfred’s Own Cape Artillery took place in order that old gunners might form a company. When it is explained that at this time 6500 South African Irregulars had already been recruited, 2500 of whom had been contributed by Cape Town, the wonderful zeal of the community may be appreciated. Indeed, space does not admit of a detailed account of the further warlike preparations, but sufficient has been said to prove that this demonstration of loyalty was unparalleled in the history of the Cape.

All these exertions were due to the fact that De Wet and Botha had secretly arranged a combined system of attack which would keep our troops on tenterhooks while the Boers gathered together recruits, arms, and ammunition. Hertzog was to skirmish his way down the Colony, fan the smouldering disloyalty of Africanders, and gradually steer his course to the coast. De Wet, with more men, was to join him, and together they were to fight their way to a point of St. Helena’s Bay, where a vessel bearing a fresh consignment of arms and ammunition forwarded by sympathisers in Europe, or from their own party in Holland, would be awaiting them. While they were thus carrying out their movements, Botha was to assist them by creating a diversion, and invading Natal with all the commandos at his disposal. The most important and alarming scheme—the parent scheme as it were—was De Wet’s. That needed to be strangled in its birth, and to this end various complicated military movements were set on foot; firstly, to prevent Hertzog from advancing farther into British territory; secondly, to frustrate his efforts to gain recruits either by intimidation or inflated promises of success; thirdly, and chiefly, to arrest the rush to his assistance of De Wet and the concentration of the scattered commandos at any given point. So much for the arrangements to meet the parent scheme.

In regard to Botha’s tactics, Lord Kitchener’s plans for meeting them were of that complex nature which makes for simplicity. A crescent shaped rake of troops was to work eastwards towards the low country of Piet Retief, sweeping Botha’s hordes—they numbered from five to eight thousand still—before it till the Boer chief should find himself wedged against the Swaziland border, and confronted with four equally uninviting alternatives.

1st. He might elect to fly into the arms of the loyal Swazis (who cherish an old-time hatred for their hereditary oppressors); 2nd, into those of the Zulus (who may be said to be equally antagonistic to Boer ways); 3rd, he might trek north-east into regions redolent of fever, and more deadly than the most bullet-laden battlefield; or, 4th, he might surrender and come to really easy terms with conquerors who were ready and anxious to hold out to him the hand of fellowship. But to return to Scheme No. 1.

At Cape Town the City Guard was armed, and musketry practice went on apace. The enrolment of the Johannesburg Mine Guard continued, and other regiments, the Western Province Horse and the Prince of Wales’ Horse, were moved to strong positions, while Colonel Owen Thomas took command of a growing corps of smartly mounted men to replace troops that had worn themselves out with repeated combats with the enemy. The Marquis of Tullibardine, in command of the first regiment of Scottish Horse, prepared to take up his quarters at Johannesburg, viâ Natal.

In a brisk encounter by a detachment of General C. Knox’s force, 120 strong, with an overwhelming herd of Boers near Lindley, the British had the misfortune to lose three officers—Lieutenant-Colonel D. T. Laing, Lieutenants S. W. King and Vonschade—and fifteen men, while two officers—Lieutenants Sampson and Perrin—and twenty men were wounded. The facts were these. On the morning of the 3rd, the Commander-in-Chief’s Body-guard, under Colonel Laing, were ordered to get in touch with the town of Reitz. In so doing, they found themselves assailed by Boers to right and to left of them—Boers carefully concealed in kopjes some 600 yards distant. The colonel fell, and an effort was made to retire, but the Dutchmen placed a wedge of some 500 of their number between the bodyguard and Colonel White’s column. An appalling scene ensued. The British at bay fought ferociously, determining never to surrender, while young Bateson of the gallant number charged through the mass of Boers to inform Colonel White of the desperate drama that was going forward; but in spite of this noble effort, by the time reinforcements and guns appeared on the scene, the bodyguard was surrounded. Some even then refused to cease firing, but finally the Boer general threatened to shoot every man who continued, and they were eventually made prisoners.

On the 5th, General Babington drove back from Naauwpoort, a place north of Potchefstroom, the commandos of Delarey and Steenkamp, and captured a prisoner in the form of Commandant Duprez. The Dutchmen had secured an excellent and almost impregnable position in the Witwatersrand, but when the mounted infantry of Babington at Naauwpoort and Gordon at Zandfontein launched themselves at the offensive strongholds, the enemy fled to the north-west, pursued for fifteen miles by the Imperial Light Horse, who had lost heavily through their gallantry in the affair.

In the neighbourhood of the Delagoa line the Boers still buzzed, and on the night of the 7th, in a dense fog, which served as a curtain to their machinations, they simultaneously crept up to all the British posts—at Belfast, Wonderfontein, Nooitgedacht, Widfontein, and Pan.

The movement was most astutely managed, and not till about 4 A.M., after ferocious firing, were the swarming Dutchmen driven off and dispersed. Captain Fosbery was killed and twenty of the men, and three officers and fifty-nine men were wounded. The Boers left twenty-four of their number on the field.

On the 9th, Lieutenant Spedding, with sixty dashing men of the Royal Irish Rifles, proceeded by night from Ventersburg road, surprised the enemy at the romantically named kopje, Alleen, and returned plus three prisoners, 300 horses, and a quantity of cattle. A few days later the Victorians, under Captain Umpleby, made a fine haul of sixty fat cattle near Rustenburg, but unfortunately, starvation only made the Boers more daring and more rabid in their animosity.

Lord Kitchener now decided to evacuate all towns lying outside the line of communications, thus clearing the Boers’ happy hunting-grounds of lootable convoys. Large camps of Boer families under British protection were formed at Brandfort and Kroonstad, and elsewhere near the railway lines.

De Wet, driven hither and thither, now developed symptoms of unusual ferocity, which seemed to prove that such civilised habits as have been accredited to him owed their origin rather to the desire to obtain the respect and sympathy of Europe than to humanitarian motives. Now that intervention was out of the question, the commandant decided to “gang his ain gait,” and gave rein to his bitterness. Three agents of the Peace Committee were taken as prisoners to De Wet’s laager; the burghers were flogged by his orders, and a British subject, one Morgendaal, was flogged and afterwards shot. Piet De Wet endeavoured to mediate, to point out the futility of further bloodshed, and sent an appeal which was both pathetic and practical, an appeal which passed unheeded.

An attack was made by night on Machadodorp, but before dawn on the 10th, the marauders had been routed, though a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant E. M. Harris, Royal Irish Fusiliers, lost his life in defending the post.

At Zeerust, Durban, in the region of Krugersdorp and the stations Zuurfontein and Kaalfontein, the Boers made themselves offensive, and from all places, after brisk fighting, retired with loss. At Zuurfontein, on the 12th, owing to the enemy being clothed in kharki, they were able to deceive the sentry and capture him, but the detachments of the Lincolns under Lieutenant Cordeaux, and the detachments of the Norfolks under Lieutenant Atkinson, soon routed their assailants and shot their commandant, who was within seven yards of the trenches.

While these subalterns were distinguishing themselves at Zuurfontein, another—Williams-Freeman of the Cheshires—was having a warm time at Kaalfontein; but he, with the small garrison of 120, after fighting for six hours in a blizzard from the Mausers of the foe, succeeded in driving them off without sustaining a single casualty.

About this period Sir A. Milner was appointed Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, retaining the High Commissionership; Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of the Cape Colony; Sir Henry McCallum, Governor of Natal; and Major Goold Adams, Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony. The Secretary of State for War now authorised the enlistment of 5000 Imperial Yeomen to make up for the wastage which had occurred in that force at the front, and further contributions of troops were also invited from the colonies. The invitations, it is almost needless to say, were accepted with alacrity bordering on enthusiasm.

A few words must now be said on what may be called the Hospitals question. In consequence of grave allegations made by Mr. Burdett-Coutts (M.P. for Westminster) regarding the treatment of the sick and wounded in South Africa, the Government, on the 5th of July, decided to appoint a small Commission of three persons, afterwards increased to five, to report on the arrangements for the care and treatment of the sick and wounded during the campaign. The Commission, which consisted of Dr. Church, President of the College of Physicians; President Cunningham, of Trinity College, Dublin; Sir David Richmond (ex-Lord Provost of Glasgow); and Mr. Harrison, General Manager of the London and North-Western Railway, with Lord Justice Romer, went to South Africa, returned late in October, and concluded taking its evidence on the 5th of November.

Into the particulars of the inquiry it is impossible to enter; the sorry state of the mass of sufferers in Bloemfontein at the time of the epidemic has been described.[18] The utter impossibility of instantly remedying the evils and relieving the distress, while the bare life of the force depended on the supplies coming by train along a railway some 900 miles long, of which every bridge for the last 128 miles had been destroyed, was recognised by all who gave the matter practical thought. Still, in view of the charges made, which unrefuted, may live after those concerned have passed away and the good they have done has been “interred with their bones,” it may be as well to state that after pointing out defects, &c., in the care of the sick and wounded, the commissioners came to the following conclusion:—“Reviewing the campaign as a whole,” they said, “it has not been one where it can properly be said that the medical and hospital arrangements have broken down. There has been nothing in the nature of a scandal with regard to the care of the sick and wounded; no general or widespread neglect of patients, or indifference to their suffering.” All witnesses of experience in other wars were, the commissioners declared, “practically unanimous in the view that, taking it all in all, in no campaign have the sick and wounded been so well looked after as they have been in this.”

The report of the commissioners merely corroborated the views of all experienced men. The military and medical authorities could not have anticipated that the war would attain the proportions it did, and the Royal Army Medical Corps was insufficient in staff and equipment for the magnitude of the conflict. It was so constituted that the staff could not be suddenly enlarged or deficiencies instantly rectified. The deficiency in the staff of the corps before the war was, it was pointed out, not the fault of the Director-General and the staff of officers associated with him. They had, it is said, for a considerable time before the outbreak “urged on the military authorities the necessity for an increase of the corps, but for the most part without avail.”

RETURN OF THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS: ARRIVAL AT ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL
Drawing by Frank Dadd, R.I., and S. T. Dadd

The commissioners, while suggesting for future guidance various improvements and the correction of defects, declared in regard to the officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps that, as a whole, their “conduct and capacity deserve great praise”; while the civil surgeons as a body did their duty “extremely well.”

Taking in special consideration the state of affairs in hospital in Bloemfontein, respecting which most of the serious charges had been made, the commissioners, in stating where the conditions were unsatisfactory, pointed out that “there is nothing in them to justify any charge of inhumanity or of gross or wilful neglect, or of disregard for the sufferings of sick and wounded.” They went on to state:—

“There were some special allegations made by certain witnesses which we ought to refer to before we leave the subject of Bloemfontein. It is said that on one occasion twenty typhoid patients were improperly removed to the Portland Hospital. We have inquired into this allegation, and as a result we have to state that in our own opinion the removal was necessary in the interests of the patients. A gruesome story of a corpse being stuffed into a lavatory was mentioned by Mr. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., but he states that he only spoke of the matter from information given to him. Inquiry has been made in all quarters to find out whether there is any foundation for this allegation. No such case can be found to have occurred, either at Bloemfontein or elsewhere in South Africa, and we are satisfied that Mr. Burdett-Coutts was misled by his informant. Some observations have also been made with reference to the dead at Bloemfontein, as if the corpses, owing to their great number, were dealt with in a hurried or neglectful way. This is not the fact. In the first place the numbers of men dying in Bloemfontein have been overstated by some witnesses. There were not fifty deaths a day, the maximum was forty, and that only for one day. Each body was buried separately and with every respect and care, and each grave was numbered, and the number and name of the dead man registered.”

Certain other complaints and statements were not attended to by the commissioners, who explained their silence as indicating that they regarded them as not well founded.

And now comes the most painful duty of the chronicler. In writing of the end of the war and the triumph of British arms in the cause of civilisation, it is a grievous necessity to speak of the close of a great and glorious life. Queen Victoria, to the inexpressible grief of her large family and her devoted subjects, passed away at 6.30 P.M. on the 22nd January. On Friday, the 18th, the British public was shocked to hear that their hitherto hale, though venerable, Sovereign was stricken in health. On the following day her condition was found to be grave. On Sunday the Empire lived in suspense. The members of the Royal Family were called together, the German Emperor—as the Queen’s grandson, not as a reigning monarch—hurried to these shores. Monday was a day of tribulation, for all knew there was no hope, and the world figurately watched with bated breath around that august bedside where the glorious Queen, a good and gracious lady, was slowly throwing aside the weight of years and sovereignty which she had so nobly borne. On Tuesday the end came, and the Empire was plunged in gloom. Victoria, the greatest queen the world has ever known, the purest ideal of womanhood, strong of brain and gentle of heart, had breathed her last. But she left behind her an undying fame, an influence which will be felt not for one but for many generations—a light to lighten the feet of men and women of the future whether in State or home.

To return to the Cape. About the middle of the month the situation stood thus. Colonel de Lisle’s column, consisting of the 6th Mounted Infantry, the New South Wales Mounted Infantry, the Irish Yeomanry, a section of R Battery Royal Horse Artillery, and a “pom-pom,” arrived at Piquetsberg, to assist in routing the guerillas, who, in clusters varying from 120 to 2000 strong, were reported to be marching towards Clanwilliam, Calvinia, Worcester, Piquetsberg, and the Beaufort West district.

A concerted movement against the invaders was being rapidly organised, and quantities of separate columns under General Settle, each in touch with the other and moving simultaneously, were to sweep clear the country and wipe off the Boers from the neighbourhood of Matjesfontein and Calvinia, whither Hertzog’s commando had penetrated. At Matjesfontein Colonel Henniker’s troops formed the centre of a semicircle, travelling left in the direction where Thorneycroft’s and Bethune’s forces operated, and bending coastwards were De Lisle and his nimble men who kept guard over the loopholes to the sea whence supplies might be drawn. The passes in the hills, of this the most difficult and mountainous country, were held by the Cape Town Cyclist Corps, together with the Western Province, Scottish and Welsh Horse, while the Australians patrolled around Lamberts and Bast, Clanwilliam and the coast, and took care the enemy found no means of squeezing to the left. There was little chance of a complete cessation of hostilities for a good time to come, for the Dutchmen were cunning, and having discovered that their wives and children were so humanely provided for, considered themselves free to keep the field with increased persistence. That they were not unsuccessful in their machinations was due to the fact that they carefully eluded the British troops, and were fed and cared for at the expense of the country people who kept them well informed as to the manœuvres of their pursuers. Meanwhile Hertzog was beating up recruits and scouring districts known to be disaffected for hale and hearty bachelors who would share the life of the marauders. But martial law having been proclaimed there was no great rush to his banner, though from the attitude, laudatory and almost reverential, of the farmers towards De Wet and his exploits, it was plain that, should he succeed in eluding Knox and breaking south, he might end by fizzing comet-wise through the Colony with a trail of rebels at his heels.

In the Transvaal Botha’s followers, to the strength of 3000, were concentrated near Carolina, while others of the gang hovered round Johannesburg and Standerton. On the 17th, from this latter place, they were driven off with loss by Colonel Colville’s mobile column, and their discomfiture was completed by the seizure by the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles of a Boer outpost near Springs. They scored, however, by capturing a train with mine materials near Balmoral, and also by damaging, on the 22nd, the electric light work near Johannesburg. Lord Methuen, meanwhile, was clearing the Boers out of Kuruman and Griqualand.

On the 25th a goods train, with cattle and provisions for the far north of Kimberley, was captured at Slipklip by the marauders, who had previously captured an outpost of twenty Dublin Fusiliers. The Dutchman would have succeeded in seizing a second train which was following, but for the presence of mind of the driver of the first train, who directly he found himself pelted by bullets rolled off the engine, made a detour of several miles, and reached the line near Kimberley in time to arrest the progress of the second train.

General Smith-Dorrien, marching from Wonderfontein to Carolina, came on a mass of the enemy who had been tampering with the line, and were now strongly ensconced round the river. He gave battle to them—five hours the engagement lasted—and eventually succeeded in dispersing them, but with the loss of one officer and four men killed and three officers and thirteen men wounded. He afterwards returned to Pretoria. The scattered horde, after sniping at him to the best of their ability, gathered round a train with a view to creating damage, but the driver, a smart fellow, shot down the ringleader, one Commandant Liebrant (who was tampering with the vacuum brake), with the result that his comrades fled, leaving his body behind.

On the 29th the ubiquitous Knox engaged De Wet’s force about forty miles north of Thabanchu. De Wet had been “loafing about” in the region between Ladybrand and Winburg, waiting, it was believed, for more of his followers (who were enjoying furlough), prior to making the grand invasion of Cape Colony. Fighting was fierce and sustained, but at last the Dutchmen made off, leaving behind them five dead Boers and three others who were taken prisoners. Our losses included Lieutenant Way, Durham Light Infantry, and one man, while among the wounded was Major Copeman, Essex Regiment.

De Wet himself, with a gang of some 2500 guerillas, came into contact with Major Crewe’s composite column on the 31st of January near Tabaksberg, a rectangular slab of mountain, which was held by a force five times superior to the British in number, who poured a terribly severe rifle fire on the British party. A brilliant retirement was effected in the dusk and the convoy saved, though a pom-pom, after desperate efforts to remove it, had to be abandoned. Meanwhile, disaster had overtaken us in the eastern Transvaal.

On the 30th, during a storm of rain, a post at Moddersfontein was “rushed” by night by some 1400 Dutchmen with a gun and a pom-pom. A relief column sent out from Krugersdorp failed to avert the fall of the post, who had had their water supply cut off, and had no resource but to surrender. They however disabled their Maxim before so doing.

The casualties were:—Two officers, Lieutenant Green, 59th Company Imperial Yeomanry, and Civil Surgeon Walker, killed; Captain Magniac, 59th Company Imperial Yeomanry, and Lieutenant Crawley, South Wales Borderers, wounded.

To the south of Middelburg General Campbell’s column was engaged with some 500 Boers, who were driven back with loss. Lieutenant Cawston, 18th Hussars, was dangerously wounded (since dead); Lieutenant Reade, King’s Royal Rifles, severely wounded. Eighteen men were killed and wounded.

Of the situation at the close of January and the beginning of February it is impossible to give more than a rough outline. Four main movements had been organised against the cliques of the enemy. Towards the east of the Transvaal, in order to make a complete clearance of the Boers from Delagoa line of communications, the following columns, each in touch with the other, had started on the 27th of January:—

General Smith-Dorrien’s from Wonderfontein, General Campbell’s from Middelburg, General Alderson’s from Eerstefabrieken, General Knox’s from Kaalfontein, Colonel Allanby’s (?) from Zuurfontein, General Dartnell’s from Springs, and Colonel Colville’s from Greylingstad. The southern columns were commanded by General French; those sweeping from the north by General Lyttelton.

In the Potchefstroom, Rand, and Krugersdorp districts, General Cunningham was operating against some 2000 of Delarey’s followers, while Generals Knox, Plumer, Bruce-Hamilton, and Maxwell, with Colonels White and Pilcher and Major Crewe, were all engaged in hunting De Wet in hope of forcing him into the arms of one or other of the corps concentrated on the Orange River. This irrepressible one was marching hot-foot with a force of 3000 men south of Thabanchu, and the excitement among the various British regiments preparing to intercept his plan of crossing the Orange River was intense.

The fourth movement for the clearance of Cape Colony was being developed by General Brabant and Colonel Girouard (chief of staff). These two were on the watch to prevent De Wet and his followers, two 15-pounders, a Maxim and a pom-pom (captured from Major Crewe’s column while crossing the rail between Edenburg and Springfontein), from co-operating with Hertzog’s band in the Cape Colony, and carrying out his threat to “give the farmers there a taste of what we ourselves have suffered through this war.”

The volunteers and town-guards in the districts of Oudtshoorn, Clanwilliam, Somerset East, and other parts of the Colony had exciting times, as the enemy, broken into mere marauding bands, looted and destroyed or damaged farms and property at every turn; but they bore these ills with spirit, and prepared themselves by night or day to give the aggressors a fitting reception. The marauders’ tactics were everywhere the same—they lived on the country, and worked east, avoiding contact with the mounted troops, and speedily dispersing before places which offered resistance to their attacks.

Ermelo was occupied by General French on the 6th, when fifty Boers surrendered. Botha and his tribe of 7000 had retired eastward, and in the dusk before dawn attacked General Smith-Dorrien at Bothwell. After fierce fighting the Dutchman was repulsed with considerable loss to himself, for General Spruit was killed and two field cornets, while General Raademeger was wounded. Many other Boers were seriously wounded, and twenty were left on the ground. Of the British party twenty-four were slain and fifty-three wounded.

At Petrusburg a column brought in some 3500 horses and cattle without sustaining any casualty. More captures were made at Lillefontein, east of Vryburg; 12 waggons and 200 cattle formed the bag, and the enemy was dispersed.

On the 11th, General French made a magnificent haul, a convoy being captured—50 waggons, 15 carts, and 45 prisoners—and this with the loss of one man only.

MARKET SQUARE, JOHANNESBURG, TRANSVAAL COLONY.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdeen.

Indeed day after day, before French and his hard-worked warriors in the neighbourhood of Piet Retief, Botha was suffering severely, and some 5000 Dutchmen were dispersing in disorganised gangs, having lost already over 280 in killed and wounded. Of their number 183 had surrendered, while 56 were made prisoners. They had lost a 15-pounder gun, 462 rifles, 160,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition, 3600 horses, 70 mules, 3530 trek oxen, 18,700 cattle, 155,400 sheep, and 1070 waggons and carts! But this was not all. A few days later, on the 25th, came additional captures in the form of a 19-pounder Krupp gun, a howitzer, a Maxim, 20,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition, 153 rifles, 388 horses, 52 mules, 834 trek oxen, 5600 cattle, 9800 sheep, and 287 waggons and carts! Three hundred of the enemy now surrendered, while their losses in killed and wounded were about nine. No British casualties were reported. Further operations were delayed by torrents of rain, which converted the country into a swamp; but Boers surrendered daily, and Botha’s whole force was now represented only by scattered bands of malcontents.

The plight of the Dutchmen was equally sorry elsewhere. Lord Methuen, who was marching from Taungs to Klerksdorp with the object of clearing the Masakani Range at Haartbeestfontein, engaged De Villiers and Liebenberg with a band of 400 and defeated them, losing in the encounter 16 killed (among them 3 officers) and 34 wounded, while 18 Dutchmen bit the dust. The 10th Yeomanry, Victoria Bushmen, and the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment came out of the fray with flying colours. De Wet also, after a really magnificent venture south, was forced back to his old haunts discomfited.

The tale of his audacious invasion of Cape Colony can but be outlined here. Briefly, the Dutchman with his force succeeded, despite the resistance of the troops before-mentioned, in getting across the Orange River by Zand Drift on the 11th, with a view to following in the track of Hertzog, and fulfilling the programme already described. Ever active, he sped on, made a lunge at the garrison of Philipstown on the 14th, and, after a three hours’ tussle, was repulsed, and bolted (followed closely by General Plumer) in the direction of Hout Kraal. Here he arrived on the 15th, with the intention of pushing on to De Aar, but he was frustrated by the timely arrival there of Lord Kitchener, who bore down on the scene from Pretoria and made dispositions which finally forced the foe into more northerly hunting-grounds. Meanwhile, Colonel Crabbe, thundering in rear of the Dutchman, caught up his convoy, seized twenty waggons, a score of Boer tatterdemalions, a Maxim, and over 200 horses. Still De Wet continued to flee, his aim being to cross the Brak River and reach Britstown; but Nature frustrated him, for the swollen river had become impassable, and there was nothing left but to turn tail and scurry northwards and escape the hunters Knox and Plumer, who were still in full chase. Dividing his forces, De Wet steered them between the Brak River and the rail, pounding on from the keen pursuit of the converging columns as fast as floods and quagmires would permit. His sole object now was to recross the Orange River with a whole skin, and rushing breathlessly first to Read’s Drift, then to Mark’s Drift (near Douglas), both of which were impassable, he found himself again frustrated and forced to twist downwards—clinging ever to the river bank, with the indomitable Plumer hanging to his coat-tails.

At last, near Hopetown, on the 23rd, he was overtaken by Colonel Owen, one of Plumer’s lieutenants, who relieved him of fifty of his gang, some carts full of ammunition, a gun and a pom-pom. The wily one himself veered off in the direction of Petrusville with a following of some 400 men, the rest having dispersed before the avenging K.D.G.’s, Victorians, and Imperial Light Horse, according to custom, like the fragments of a bursting shell, leaving behind them steaming cooking-pots and horses ready saddled. The affair was another plume in the cap of the man who so unostentatiously had harried and fought and skirmished around Mafeking for the relief of Colonel Baden-Powell, but he had to pay for his hard work in persistently chasing and eventually turning the foe, by a spell of complete exhaustion. The pursuit was then carried forward by Colonels Henniker and Crabbe. General Plumer entrained and moved to Springfontein in order to await developments and be ready on the north of the river should De Wet succeed in evading the pursuit and in getting across. The fugitive at this time (24th) was in no enviable position. Chased by Henniker and Crabbe, worn, weary, and dropping shattered horses as he went, he found himself again within the same square hunting-ground he had left, bounded on the north by the Orange, on the south by the De Aar-to-Naauwpoort line, on the east by the line connecting Naauwpoort with Norval’s Pont, on the west by that leading from De Aar up to Orange River Station.

But there were now stern limitations. Coming down from Hopetown towards Petrusville he was conscious of his cramped position and of his danger, for he had fled into a ring which was growing smaller and smaller as he rushed across country for an outlet. At the back of him was a half hoop, like an incoming wave, created by the troops of Henniker and Crabbe, supported by those of Thorneycroft, who guarded the region from Krankuil to the bank of the river. Coming up from Hanover Road on the south (to prevent him doubling back) were Colonels Hickman, Haig, and Williams; and waiting for him towards the east, with his arms open as it were, was Colonel Byng, moving from Colesberg. Thus all along the line of the Zeekoe River was guarded, or supposed to be. As De Wet’s luck would have it, Colonel Byng, under orders, made a temporary move to Hamilfontein, causing a gap, of which the slim Dutchman was not slow to avail himself. He tore along towards the bank of the river, found the loophole at Lilliefontein (some four miles west of Colesberg Road bridge), and was over the river like a rocket! Space does not admit of a detailed account of this exciting chase, of Captain Dallimore’s prodigious haul of twenty-seven Boers by fifteen Victorians, and of the part taken by all the splendid troops, that knew no rest night nor day for over a fortnight. Disappointment was great at the loss of the quarry, but there was at least the consolation of knowing that the projected invasion was a disastrous failure from beginning to end, and the brilliant guerilla chief was crippled for a good time to come.

On the 27th, a meeting took place at Middelburg between Lord Kitchener and Botha, with the object of making terms which would induce the Dutchman and his allies to surrender. A most liberal offer was made, but the Boers clamouring only for “independence,” the one thing which it was impossible they could have, failed to come to terms, and after a lengthy correspondence of some weeks’ duration, the proceedings fell through, and it was understood, both at home and abroad, that the enemy had decided to fight to the finish.

This decision was received by many with unfeigned thanksgiving. Though all were weary of war, of the ruin and sacrifice involved, they yet preferred to suffer and endure rather than run the risk of a magnanimous compromise which would “shame the living and cheat the dead,” which must assuredly be regarded by the Boers as a demonstration of weakness, and might eventually bring about a recurrence of the terrible war drama that is now drawing to a close. Patience and pluck and determination are needed—they will be required for some months to come—but the end is in view. The bold, dogged, and doughty enemy will have to learn the lesson that the British are equally bold, dogged, and doughty—that they mean not only to have, but to hold, that which they have earned by a vast expenditure of blood and treasure; to maintain the avowed policy of the British nation, to establish British suzerainty from the Cape to the Zambesi, and make South Africa “indisputably and for ever one country under one flag, with one system of Government, and that system the British.” The lesson once taught, the vista will grow clear. Into the newly acquired territory will be introduced the true meaning of the word Justice; of the phrase “liberty and equality for all white men.” Then, slowly—by infinitesimal degrees, perhaps—but surely, will liberty and equality develop into fraternity, and the stalwarts who, like ourselves, have passed bravely through the fiercest ordeal of Manhood, will, with us, work shoulder to shoulder to bring about an era of prosperous peace and abiding amity.

London, March 1901.