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These zealous and untiring warriors had entirely swept the country between the Delagoa and Natal railway lines, from Johannesburg to the Swazi and Zulu frontiers, travelling across the most difficult country, rendered doubly so by tempest and flood, and living almost on starvation fare.
Nevertheless Boers had been placed hors de combat killed and wounded, taken prisoners, surrendered , while an incalculable amount of supplies had been removed or destroyed, including 11 guns, rifles, , rounds of ammunition, [Pg 27] waggons and carts, and , head of stock horses, mules, trek oxen, 42, cattle, and , sheep.
How much farther the work might have proved successful had it not been for the negotiations between Botha and the Commander-in-Chief which took place during the movement, cannot be stated. As the pacific nature of the negotiations has been the subject of much comment, it is as well to append the origin and substance of them.
Botha had come back from meeting her husband, bringing from him an answer to a verbal message from the Commander-in-Chief, that if he desired it, he General Botha would meet him as to the means of bringing the war to an end, but on the express understanding that the question of the independence of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony should not be discussed in any way.
The meeting would probably take place at Middelburg. He will find us most anxious, in that case, to meet him on all points affecting individual position. We have already made clear the policy we intend to pursue as to future government. He asked for information on a number of subjects which he said that he should submit to his Government and people, and if they agreed he should visit Orange River Colony and get them to agree.
They should all then hand in their arms and finish the war. He told me that they could go on for some time, and that he was not sure of being able to bring about peace without independence.
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He tried very hard for some kind of independence, but I declined to discuss such a point, and said that a modified form of independence would be most dangerous and likely to lead to war in the future. Lord Kitchener then detailed the points upon which Botha required information. These points were noted by the Commander-in-Chief, and his suggestions were embodied in a telegram of March 3 from Sir Alfred Milner to Mr.
A telegram from Sir Alfred Milner of March 9 reported that he and Lord Kitchener were both opposed to the assistance to [Pg 28] burghers being limited to loans, but that the amended message was sent to the Commandant on March 7. Lord Kitchener, in a telegram to Mr. Brodrick on March 20, detailed the terms of his letter to Commandant Botha:—.
British subjects belonging to Natal and Cape Colony, while they will not be compelled to return to those colonies, will, if they do so, be liable to be dealt with by the law of those colonies, specially passed to meet the circumstances arising out of the present war. As you are doubtless aware, the special law in the Cape Colony has greatly mitigated the ordinary penalties for high treason in the present cases. Helena, Ceylon, or elsewhere will, on the completion of the surrender, be brought back to their country as quickly as arrangements can be made for their transport.
There will therefore be, in the first instance, in each of the new Colonies a Governor and an Executive Council, consisting of a certain number of official members, to whom a nominated unofficial element will be added. Moreover, on the cessation of hostilities a High Court will be established in each of the new Colonies to administer the law of the land, and this court will be independent of the Executive. Both the English and Dutch languages will be used and taught in public schools where parents of the children desire it, and allowed in Courts of Law.
The legal position of coloured persons will, however, be similar to that which they hold in Cape Colony. I may add, also, that my Government and my chief officers here entirely agree with my views.
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He said:—. Virtually, the letter contains nothing more, but rather less, than what the British Government will be obliged to do should our cause go wrong. Notice that they will give us a Legislative Council consisting of their own officials and members nominated by themselves. The voice of the people is thus totally unrecognised The more we are aggrieved by the enemy the more steadfastly we ought to stand for our good and lawful rights.
Should Botha or other leaders make any further suggestions of their own accord Kitchener will, of course, forward them to us without expressing any opinion upon them to those who make them. But neither Mrs. Botha nor any one else should be led to suppose that we could consider terms more favourable to the Boers than those which have been rejected. The Secretary of State for War will send a copy of this to Kitchener. That the negotiations were looked upon with disfavour by all parties concerned is undoubted.
On all hands, and from all ranks, the same complaint is heard, that they are too lenient, and are not calculated to bring permanent peace to South Africa. The regular Army, perhaps, is expected not to think or to express its thought about politics, but to fight, and only to fight; but the South Africans, the Canadians, and the Australians will give expression to their sentiments.
They declare that in the terms of peace offered by the British Government there are all the elements of future rebellion and unrest. One of them, speaking to me the other day, put forward his view of the case. We shall tell each other and our children that we have never been beaten, and, as we increase in numbers, the tales of former prowess and invincibility will perpetuate a national feeling.
If you allow burghers to carry rifles after surrender you will have petty revolts for the next ten years. There is no need of a Mauser or a Lee-Metford to defend the burgher against the native. Give him a shot-gun or a revolver, and no native will molest him. The demand for the retention of arms is nothing more nor less than the result of a determination on the part of the Boers to use them against you at the very slightest provocation.
To give them rifles is suicidal. In the early part of the year we find Lord Methuen busily occupied in dealing with an incursion of the enemy from the south-western part of the Transvaal into Griqualand. Operating from Vryburg and Taungs, he, with his mobile columns, performed an incalculable amount of work.
At Hartebeestefontein he came very violently into collision with them, and though they made a stout effort to resist his advance, he forced them to give way. His captures during these proceedings amounted to forty prisoners and many thousand head of stock. Lord Methuen reached Klerksdorp on the 19th of February and went on to Potchefstroom, where he commenced co-operating with the sweeping movements of Generals Babington and Cunningham.
In spite of their vigilance a concentration was effected in the Gatsrand on the 31st, and a small force at Modderfontein was overwhelmed by superior numbers before General Cunningham could come to its relief. On the 4th of March the troops marched from Klerksdorp towards Hoopstad, thence to withdraw the garrison.
En route they, having left their convoy under strong escort on the road to Commando Drift, made a night descent on Wolmaranstad with the [Pg 32] intention of liberating the British and Boer State prisoners who were known to be detained there.
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But at dawn when they arrived they discovered that the place was deserted! The sole, though not unimportant, result of their exertions was the capture of the Landdrost, Pearson, a person who had rendered himself notorious in connection with the cases of Messrs.
The particulars of the dastardly murder of these men must be recorded, as they serve to show the innate brutality of the Boers, which in the earlier part of the war had been suppressed in hope to seduce the sympathy of the Powers. Most of them were burghers who had surrendered or left the country prior to the war, while the others were alleged to have taken up arms. The man Boyd, a British subject, had been detained in jail since July by the Landdrost, who induced him, with two others, to indite a message to the English praying them to come to their rescue.
This was afterwards made the plea for sentencing the three to death. Eight or ten have been condemned to be shot. They were tried by the late Landdrost of Klerksdorp, a man named Heethling, in conjunction with other members of the Court. The sentences were confirmed by Generals Smuts and Delarey, who sent men to carry them out. The four who were shot were Mr. Theunissen, his son, his son-in-law, Mr. From first to last they were most brutally treated.
The execution was a sad spectacle. They were placed in a row and shot down one by one. Boyd received three bullets, but was still alive when put into the grave. The Boers then fired again, and all was over.
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George Savage was also condemned to be shot, but he has been insane since his trial. His wife has gone with Mrs. Pienaar to try to get the sentence commuted. Pienaar being with her may possibly have some influence. From all accounts it appeared that the man Pearson, who was [Pg 33] captured by Lord Methuen, was prime actor in the barbarous drama, and, handcuffed, he was removed to await his trial. The drifts, Bloemhof and Christiana, were also not negotiable, and finally the force moved to Fourteen Streams and crossed by the railway bridge.
Brigadier-General the Earl of Errol now assumed command of the force, as Lord Methuen was placed on the sick list. Here it must be noted, that after the departure of Lord Methuen for Hoopstad, Colonel Benson continued to operate to the south of the railway in the Gatsrand, and along the right bank of the Vaal. His small yet active column was ever in touch with the Boers, and many of them had hair-breadth escapes, yet, in spite of all, they secured many prisoners, head of cattle, and forty-five waggons.
On the 4th of April Colonel Benson left his troops to be merged into the force of General Dixon who had succeeded General Cunningham in command of the column south of the Magaliesberg , while he assumed a more important command on the eastern line. As the Hoopstad garrison had yet to be withdrawn, the troops now under Lord Errol started thither on the 28th of March, a simultaneous movement being made by a mobile column from Kimberley. Lord Methuen soon recovered, and on the 23rd of April, resuming command, transferred his force to Mafeking in order to move early in May on Lichtenburg.
This town, at the beginning of March, had been an object of attention to Delarey, Smuts, Celliers, and Vermaas and their bands. Money, had been vigorously attacked on the 3rd, the assault beginning at 3 A. The enemy, numbering some , with one gun, found that there were two sides in the game of annoyance, and that the defenders were ready and willing to give as much as they got.
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Indeed they gave considerably more, for while our casualties amounted to two officers Major W. Fletcher and Second-Lieutenant H. Hall and fourteen men killed, and twenty-six wounded, the Boers left behind them sixty killed and wounded and seven prisoners. Here Colonel Shekleton was to have met him with supplies, but owing to the terrific weather, and the difficulty of moving wheeled transport in an incessant deluge, the arrangements of both forces were delayed and considerable inconvenience caused, and General Babington was unable to reach Lichtenburg till the 17th.
By this time the bands of Delarey had, of course, made good their escape. But they were hunted to Hartebeestefontein and deprived of many waggons and teams, while sixty-two prisoners were netted, and eight killed. Delarey, with men and three guns, on the 22nd attacked a strong patrol of the 1st Imperial Light Horse under Major Briggs at Geduld. Unfortunately two gallant officers were lost. The report of an eye-witness was as follows:—. Our fellows had a warm time of it, but being well handled by Major Briggs beat off the attack.
The following day, reinforcements having come up, they pushed forward, and after a stiff engagement utterly routed Delarey, taking ten guns and his convoy, besides killing and wounding a hundred and sixty-seven Boers and taking a lot of prisoners. This was done almost entirely by Volunteers and the Suffolks. The Boers in the first fight charged right through the Imperial Light Horse, whose ammunition was exhausted, but were driven back by the fire of about twenty-five men who were holding the horses. With mounted troops and guns only the commander dashed after the Boers and overtook their rearguard, which was driven in near Ventersdorp.
These summary actions, in which the officers and men of the Imperial Light Horse, the 4th New Zealand Regiment, and the 6th Imperial Bushmen played so prominent a part, were most disconcerting to the foe, who now, owing to want of horses, guns, and supplies, had their wings clipped, and were unable to evade the pursuing columns.
At daybreak on the 14th April the laager was rushed by the dashing British band, while the enemy in consternation took to their heels. Five or six hundred fled, leaving six killed, ten wounded, twenty-three prisoners, one pounder gun, one pom-pom, two ammunition waggons, eighteen rounds pounder ammunition, rounds of pom-pom ammunition, 12, rounds of rifle ammunition, twelve waggons and carts, and a large number of cattle.
Only three of the British party were wounded. But the escort, admirably handled, succeeded in frustrating the designs of the enemy, whose exploit cost them twelve killed and six wounded.