Some Increase Was Noticeable In The Number Of
Surrenders After The Proclamation, But On The Whole It Had Not The
Result Which Was Expected, And Its Expediency Is Very Open To
Question.
This date may be said to mark the conclusion of the
winter campaign and the opening of a new phase in the struggle.
CHAPTER 35.
THE GUERILLA OPERATIONS IN CAPE COLONY.
In the account which has been given in a preceding chapter of the
invasion of Cape Colony by the Boer forces, it was shown that the
Western bands were almost entirely expelled, or at least that they
withdrew, at the time when De Wet was driven across the Orange
River. This was at the beginning of March 1901. It was also
mentioned that though the Boers evacuated the barren and
unprofitable desert of the Karoo, the Eastern bands which had come
with Kritzinger did not follow the same course, but continued to
infest the mountainous districts of the Central Colony, whence they
struck again and again at the railway lines, the small towns,
British patrols, or any other quarry which was within their reach
and strength. From the surrounding country they gathered a fair
number of recruits, and they were able through the sympathy and
help of the Dutch farmers to keep themselves well mounted and
supplied. In small wandering bands they spread themselves over a
vast extent of country, and there were few isolated farmhouses from
the Orange River to the Oudtshoorn Mountains, and from the Cape
Town railroad in the west to the Fish River in the east, which were
not visited by their active and enterprising scouts. The object of
the whole movement was, no doubt, to stimulate a general revolt in
the Colony; and it must be acknowledged that if the powder did not
all explode it was not for want of the match being thoroughly
applied.
It might at first sight seem the simplest of military operations to
hunt down these scattered and insignificant bands; but as a matter
of fact nothing could be more difficult. Operating in a country
which was both vast and difficult, with excellent horses, the best
of information and supplies ready for them everywhere, it was
impossible for the slow-moving British columns with their guns and
their wagons to overtake them. Formidable even in flight, the Boers
were always ready to turn upon any force which exposed itself too
rashly to retaliation, and so amid the mountain passes the British
chiefs had to use an amount of caution which was incompatible with
extreme speed. Only when a commando was exactly localised so that
two or three converging British forces could be brought to bear
upon it, was there a reasonable chance of forcing a fight. Still,
with all these heavy odds against them, the various little columns
continued month after month to play hide-and-seek with the
commandos, and the game was by no means always on the one side. The
varied fortunes of this scrambling campaign can only be briefly
indicated in these pages.
It has already been shown that Kritzinger's original force broke
into many bands, which were recruited partly from the Cape rebels
and partly from fresh bodies which passed over from the Orange
River Colony. The more severe the pressure in the north, the
greater reason was there for a trek to this land of plenty. The
total number of Boers who were wandering over the eastern and
midland districts may have been about two thousand, who were
divided into bands which varied from fifty to three hundred. The
chief leaders of separate commandos were Kritzinger, Scheepers,
Malan, Myburgh, Fouche, Lotter, Smuts, Van Reenen, Lategan, Maritz,
and Conroy, the two latter operating on the western side of the
country. To hunt down these numerous and active bodies the British
were compelled to put many similar detachments into the field,
known as the columns of Gorringe, Crabbe, Henniker, Scobell, Doran,
Kavanagh, Alexander, and others. These two sets of miniature armies
performed an intricate devil's dance over the Colony, the main
lines of which are indicated by the red lines upon the map. The
Zuurberg mountains to the north of Steynsburg, the Sneeuwberg range
to the south of Middelburg, the Oudtshoorn Mountains in the south,
the Cradock district, the Murraysburg district, and the
Graaf-Reinet district - these were the chief centres of Boer
activity.
In April Kritzinger made his way north to the Orange River Colony,
for the purpose of consulting with De Wet, but he returned with a
following of 200 men about the end of May. Continual brushes
occurred during this month between the various columns, and much
hard marching was done upon either side, but there was nothing
which could be claimed as a positive success.
Early in May two passengers sailed for Europe, the journey of each
being in its way historical. The first was the weary and overworked
Pro-Consul who had the foresight to distinguish the danger and the
courage to meet it. Milner's worn face and prematurely grizzled
hair told of the crushing weight which had rested upon him during
three eventful years. A gentle scholar, he might have seemed more
fitted for a life of academic calm than for the stormy part which
the discernment of Mr. Chamberlain had assigned to him. The fine
flower of an English university, low-voiced and urbane, it was
difficult to imagine what impression he would produce upon those
rugged types of which South Africa is so peculiarly prolific. But
behind the reserve of a gentleman there lay within him a lofty
sense of duty, a singular clearness of vision, and a moral courage
which would brace him to follow whither his reason pointed. His
visit to England for three months' rest was the occasion for a
striking manifestation of loyalty and regard from his
fellow-countrymen. He returned in August as Lord Milner to the
scene of his labours, with the construction of a united and loyal
commonwealth of South Africa as the task of his life.
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