When the British guns belched forth,
The burghers held their breath,
And down in the trenches deep they hid
From these Messengers of Death.
But the British had the range,
And their lyddite and shrapnel fell
Into their trenches till they thought
We'd opened the gates of hell.
Then Cronje had enough,
And a message came to say
That he and his army surrendered,
And this on Majuba Day:
The day that the Boers held
And rejoiced with might and main,
The day they laid their arms on the veldt;
The day they'll ne'er hold again.
For Cronje's day is done,
The despot's rule is o'er,
Their hell-fire on the Women
And the Red-cross is no more.
For under escort he jogs along
With never a word to say;
He and his army four thousand strong
All bound for Table Bay.
And Cronje can pray as long as he may,
Till his poor old knees are sore;
But it seems Lord Roberts has found the way
To outwit the wily Boer,
And St. Helena is his quarters
Till the Transvaal War is o'er.
Jas. L. Watson,
1st Scots Guards.
REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE.
Below we give a translation of a Dutch proclamation issued by Sir George Cathcart nearly half a century ago. The Capetown Argus says that it shows a marked similarity to Lord Roberts' recent proclamation explaining the cause of the present war, but this we confess we are not so certain of, as that the proclamation is of interest in and for itself.
PROCLAMATION.
By His Excellency Lieutenant-General the Hon. George Cathcart, Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and Territories and Dependencies thereof, and Vice-Admiral of the same; and Her Majesty's High Commissioner for the execution and adjustment of affairs of the Territory in South Africa bordering on and annexed to the Eastern and Northern Boundaries of the said Colony, and Governor of the Orange River Territory, &c., &c.