THE NIGHT CHARGE OF THE 19th HUSSARS NEAR LYDENBURG ON NOV. 7th, 1900
Drawing by R. Caton Woodville

“On the 11th,” said one who was with him, “we marched to Helvetia, and here we halted for one day—our first and only halt from the time we left Belfast until we reached Komati Poort viâ Lydenburg. On the 13th we descended 3000 feet sheer to Watervalonder—scenery quite lovely. We were then in the fever valley of the Elandspruit. Our daily marches now involved throwing forward piquets to hold the tops of the mountains on either side till the tail of the column had passed through. Advanced and flank guards were useless. On the 14th we reached Nooitgedacht, and on the 15th we passed Godwan, and bivouacked on the lowest slope of Kaapsche Hoop—a charming site for a camp, amongst a natural rockery. On the 16th we had a heavy day. We had to get to the summit of the Kaapsche Hoop, the loftiest mountain in the neighbourhood. It is also called the Devil’s Kantoor, and is covered with alluvial gold diggings. The whole of the infantry moved off at 3.30 A.M. in darkness. That meant rising at 1.45, and breakfast at 2.30, but early breakfast in the dark was a common occurrence, and not a pleasant one when the fare consisted of trek ox and dry biscuit, as it generally did. It was difficult to get down; yet we had to force ourselves to it, for there was no chance of food until we reached our next bivouac. All the infantry left in the dark, and was split up along the road at the worst bits, where drag-ropes were distributed, and the men took off their equipment, and each waggon was helped up the steeps. It would have been impossible to have got them up without. The men worked splendidly, the Royal Scots putting their backs into it in a way which elicited the admiration of the General.”

At this juncture Mr. Kruger, preceded by a great portion of his worldly goods, made off to Lorenço Marques. To the great relief of every one this misguided old man now disappeared from the political platform, and left his country to be lifted, by those he had been pleased to call his enemies, from the ruin he had brought about. As that notable socialist, Mr. Bernard Shaw, expressed it, he had had a chance “to play the statesman,” but had “played the Mahdi,”—now, like Mahdism, Krugerism was extinct.

It was therefore Lord Roberts’s turn to take up the tangled skein of law and order in the Transvaal. To this end he ordered the following proclamation to be printed and widely circulated in English and Dutch:—

“Machadodorp, September 13.

“The late President Kruger, with Reitz and the archives of the South African Republic, crossed the Portuguese frontier, and arrived at Lorenço Marques, with a view of sailing for Europe at an early date.

“Mr. Kruger has formally resigned the position he held as President of the South African Republic, thus severing his official connection with the Transvaal.

“Mr. Kruger’s action shows how hopeless, in his opinion, is the war which has now been carried on for nearly a year, and his desertion of the Boer cause should make it clear to his fellow-burghers that it is useless for them to continue the struggle any longer.

“It is probably unknown to the inhabitants of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony that nearly fifteen thousand of their fellow-subjects are now prisoners of war, not one of whom will be released until those now in arms against us surrender unconditionally.

“The burghers must by this time be cognisant of the fact that no intervention on their behalf can come from any of the Great Powers, and, further, that the British Empire is determined to complete the work which has already cost so many valuable lives, and to carry to its conclusion the war declared against her by the late Governments of the Transvaal and Orange Free State—a war to which there can be but one ending.

“If any further doubts remain in the minds of the burghers as to her Britannic Majesty’s intentions, they should be dispelled by the permanent manner in which the country is gradually being occupied by her Majesty’s forces, and by the issue of the proclamations signed by me on the 24th May and 1st September 1900, annexing the Orange Free State and the South African Republic respectively in the name of her Majesty.

“I take this opportunity of pointing out that, except in the small area occupied by the Boer army under the personal command of Commandant-General Botha, the war is degenerating, and has degenerated into operations carried on in an irregular and irresponsible manner, and in very many cases by insignificant bodies of men.

“I should be failing in my duty to her Majesty’s Government and to her Majesty’s army in South Africa if I neglected to use every means in my power to bring such irregular warfare to an early conclusion.

“The means which I am compelled to adopt are those which the customs of war prescribe as being applicable to such cases: they are ruinous to the country, entail endless suffering on the burghers and their families; and the longer this guerilla warfare continues the more vigorously must they be enforced.”

From the Hague Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans, the Boer delegates, now issued an appeal addressed to all nations in favour of intervention. After expressing the conviction that the only object of the annexation of the Transvaal which had been proclaimed by Great Britain was to enable the British to continue the war in an inhuman manner, and contrary to the principles of International Law, the appeal said—

“The British generals wish to treat as rebels the people of the South African Republics, previously recognised as belligerents, and mercilessly to pursue to the bitter end the exhausted combatants. With the help of God this object will not be attained. The citizens of the Republics will continue the struggle to their last breath. Have they not shown themselves worthy of their liberty and their fatherland? Will the world allow them to be crushed? The Powers have not intervened up to the present, perhaps abstaining from so doing as long as the war was regular; but will the restoration of peace never be pronounced, not even now when Great Britain tramples under foot by her theoretical annexations all the principles of International Law, and thus endeavours to acquire freedom of action in order to exercise her powers, and if possible annihilate completely the existence of a free people? In the name of justice and humanity we appeal to all peoples who sympathise with us to come to our aid even in this critical and supreme moment, and to save our country. We commit ourselves to God, trusting that our prayers will be heard.”

Barberton.