But, he asked, what nation engaged in war has at any time, in any country, or under any conditions, endeavoured to feed, clothe, house, nurse, doctor, and educate 150,000 persons, who have been left on their hands by the enemy, whom they had called on—as Lord Roberts did on two occasions—to take over and maintain their own belongings, but who said they would leave them on our hands. And again, he explained that far from any inhumanity being shown the enemy, many of the troubles had been prolonged by excessive leniency to men who, on many occasions, had violated the rules of civilised warfare. For the last year and before it there had been instances of firing on ambulances, professing to surrender and opening fire again, or firing on the wounded, breaches of parole and treachery, which had provoked no retaliation, no deviation from the usages of the civilised warfare on our part. He put forth reasons which accounted for the abnormal death-rate in the concentration camps, showing in the first place that a death-rate in a camp whence all the healthy males have been removed, cannot be looked on as an ordinary death-rate. He said: “If you look only at infants, it has been pointed out that in the thirty-three great towns of the Kingdom the mortality is 248 per 1000. Birkenhead goes up even to 362 per 1000. Therefore, those who compare the death-rate in these camps with the ordinary death-rate of the great towns are, of course, speaking wrongly. I have heard of people who think that measles cannot have much effect on the death-rate. But what of the gardes mobiles of Paris during the siege, whose death-rate was 40 per cent. in measles cases?” The critics who had discussed the camps had not taken the trouble to acquaint themselves with the ordinary statistics of Boer farm life, for, had they done so, they might have taken into consideration the fact that though many Boers had families of twenty children, as a rule, owing to the neglect, ignorance, or apathy of the parents, only two to a family survived. For this reason their population has not been equal to that of other nations in the same conditions. It is only by a study of the habits of life of these people prior to the English rule that it is possible to judge whether they had in the camps the comfort they were accustomed to. Luxury is but comparative, and, as has been shown, the luxury of soap and other sanitary precautions were ignored by the lower classes of Boers from earliest times. In regard to the matter of diet, that these persons received food at all was a marvel, considering that every convoy had to be protected from their marauding relatives by the lives of our own valiant men, men who themselves were not without anxiety as to how their own wives, mothers, and babes were faring at home in their absence, and who themselves, after a long career of hazard and usefulness, might share a less enviable fate.

In addition to the accusations regarding the concentration camps, invented by traitors to the country that housed and sheltered them, there were other arguments to be met. “How is it, if you send this vast number of horses—if you have your columns—if you have good leaders who are well equipped—that our men cannot catch the enemy? Is your intelligence defective; is your system at fault?” The explanation given by Mr. Brodrick, one which showed a serious development of the war, was this: “The system of our country and people with regard to the Kaffir is different from the Boer system. The Boer columns have only too frequently in the last few months eluded our columns by hiding their tracks, by murdering the Kaffirs behind them. It is a serious charge, and I make it only for this reason, that I had occasion to notice that in the secret intelligence reports so many cases were mentioned of the murder of Kaffirs that I telegraphed to Lord Kitchener to ask whether this was a general practice, or whether it was the occasion of isolated persons. His reply was: ‘Cold-blooded murders by the Boers have been frequent of late. It was only on the 10th inst. two dead infants were found with their hands tied behind them down a main shaft at Freylingstadt.’ The leader of a column, whose letter I saw not long ago, mentioned that he was within two or three hours of a column of the enemy whom he had been pursuing for a considerable number of hours—that was at a Kaffir kraal—and he found the place deserted, but in one of the houses he found four little Kaffir boys, all under twelve, all with their heads battered in two or three hours before.” Mr. Brodrick proceeded to explain that he did not bring this forward with the intention of making an impeachment against the whole Boer nation. Indeed, the statement was forced from him by friends of the enemy who at one time jeered at the Government and our Military Commanders for not beating the Boers, and at another complained that negotiations and blandishments were not substituted for the slow system of physical pressure that was found by the Commander-in-Chief to be the surest means to the end—the peaceable end.

Both Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner decided that it was of no use either to threaten or to wheedle, the one and only thing was imperturbably to squeeze, reserving the policy of clemency for the proper season, when the surrendered Boers should have become our fellow-subjects. Accordingly we still continued to pour fresh regiments into the country. Four thousand trained mounted troops were now on their way out to replace those that needed rest, and India was providing four battalions and two more cavalry regiments in return for other troops which would take their place there. Some militia regiments were also being sent to the front, and further Colonial contingents, so that thus reinforced the tired veterans would receive a fillip for future operations.

For reference in the future, when the resources of the Empire are studied, the following return of troops and horses sent out to South Africa between January 1, 1900, and December 31, 1901, may be found interesting:—

DuringFrom Home and India.
Officers.Warrant Officers.N.C.O.’s and Men.Horses
1900.
January1,0994528,07210,229
February1,3624732,3565,701
March1,1306326,5395,501
April4801811,6924,522
May32147,0202,481
June271710,0922,649
July12062,1071,277
August9373,137832
September12834,6441,187
October11342,3372
November125182,331895
December10691,080591
Total for 19005,348231131,40735,867
1901.
January288123,3332,471
February27535,2251,495
March782921,5912,328
April366124,4982,724
May304153,5092,801
June287115,5322,481
July9932,0552,314
August179133,5461,672
September19741,9582,128
October191131,4662,401
November27075,3502,856
December6191611,6865,024
Total for 19013,85711869,74930,695
Grand Total9,205349201,15666,562

DuringColonial Contingents.Remounts from Abroad.
Officers.Warrant Officers.N.C.O.’s and Men.Horses.
1900.
January13422,0802,145840
February6931,3131,3842,703
March14912,7393,06510,341
April458348807,879
May8111,3491,6907,761
June12,551
July3,305
August5,293
September8,680
October2,213
November1,120
December5,272
Total for 190047878,3159,16467,958
1901.
January175675804,224
February7711,4241,3915,991
March16263,8062,7229,022
April8631,6721,9514,850
May324,384
June4,742
July979,130
August2123247,800
September7,550
October10,728
November8,099
December15,463
Total for 1901375127,8026,64491,983
Grand Total8531916,11715,808159,941
DuringTotals.
Officers.Warrant Officers.N.C.O.’s and Men.Horses.
1900.
January1,2334730,15213,214
February1,4315033,6699,788
March1,2796429,27818,907
April5251812,52613,281
May40258,36911,932
June271710,09215,200
July12062,1074,582
August9373,1376,125
September12834,6449,867
October11342,3372,215
November125182,3312,015
December10691,0805,863
Total for 19005,826238139,722112,989
1901.
January305123,9007,275
February35246,6498,877
March9441525,39714,072
April452156,1709,525
May307153,5117,185
June287115,5327,223
July10832,06211,444
August200153,8709,472
September19741,9589,678
October191131,46613,129
November27075,35010,955
December6191611,68620,487
Total for 19014,23213077,551129,322
Grand Total10,058368217,273242,311

Owing to the efficacy of Lord Kitchener’s slow but sure efforts the railway disasters became fewer. In October 1900 the railway was cut thirty-two times, or more than once per day. In November thirty times, in December twenty-one times, in January sixteen, in February (after De Wet’s incursion into Cape Colony) thirty, in March eighteen, in April eighteen, in May twelve, in June eight, in July four, in August four, in September two, and in October not at all. Thus it became possible for more than a hundred refugees per week to resume work at Johannesburg.