With Rifle and Bayonet: A Story of the Boer War

by F. S. Brereton

“At the same time, too, the English Government handed over the Orange Free State to the settlers there, and the two young Republics started into being, the one with Mr Boshof as president, and the other with Pretorius.

“There you have the history of our neighbours. But before passing on to tell you about the first Boer war, in which I myself took a part, I must mention that the Basutos, who have their country wedged as it were into the Free State, had constant conflicts with the Boers. They are now happy and contented under our own rule, but they bear an undying hatred for their neighbours which at any time may lead to further troubles.

“And now, my boys, to get to more recent times, that is to say, the past twenty years or so. We have, as I have endeavoured to show you, two Boer republics adjacent to one another, and only sparsely populated. South of them are Cape Colony and Natal, also populated by Dutchmen and blood relations of the Boers, while amongst them are many British settlers.

“I have told you how our neighbours dealt with their native servants. Now that they had been given their independence they were free to do as they liked, save that slavery would not have been permitted. But, to the Boer, native labour is everything. His one aim and object in life is to live at peace with all the world, to possess vast stretches of country which shall be all his own, and in the heart of which he may bury himself away from the world, troubling only to till by means of native servants sufficient land to supply his wants, and devoting himself to the rearing of cattle. His daily routine of life since independence was assured was to rise with the lark, and ride round his lands counting his herds of cattle. That done he was at leisure all the rest of the day. His life was simplicity itself; the gaieties and amusements of cities, and social intercourse with other men, never upset the serenity of his existence. His soul longed to be free of them all. He was at last, and determined to be to his dying day, king of the stretches of plain he owned. No one should oust him from them, and for his happiness it only sufficed that he should live alone with his own family, sit the livelong day upon the stoep (step) of his farmhouse, drinking coffee and smoking incessantly, while he gazed listlessly across the waving grass and veldt, and busied himself with thoughts the nature and depth of which could not be great.

“Dressed in rough cloth coat and trousers, and with a dilapidated slouch hat upon his head, he never troubled to discard his clothing. His beard and hair were seldom trimmed, and his toilet was a matter of which he never thought.

“But all the while, though nothing seemed to stir him from his lazy life, the mere suspicion that his dearly-cherished independence was in danger brought him to tear himself away from his peaceful farm, and, rifle in hand, to place himself shoulder to shoulder with his brother Boer to fight for the Republic.

“For twenty years the Boers maintained a constant succession of disputes as regards the frontiers of the Transvaal. Now it was with the Orange Free State, and at another time with the English. But at last they picked a quarrel with Sekukuni, whose country lies to the northeast of us, and this led to open warfare.

“Now, all along I have given our neighbours credit for staunch and dogged pluck, though I am bound to confess that their constant association with the natives has taught them dishonest and treacherous habits. But to be really brave our friends must lie behind the rocks. It is against their nature to fight when exposed in the open. True guerilla warfare is their motto; to shoot down the enemy unawares, and without showing so much as a finger.

“For defence these tactics are excellent, but for attack quite useless. Sekukuni and his followers proved too much for the Boers. Hidden in caves from which nothing but a frontal attack and absolute disregard of danger could dislodge them, they laughed at our neighbours, who were far too careful of their own safety to make a rush.

“The Boers were forced to retire, but only to face more troubles. To live in idleness and ease is not to make the wherewithal with which to support a government. Their public money ran out, their coffers were empty, and hordes of natives pressed upon their borders.