On December 20th Lord
Kitchener Had Issued A Proclamation Which Was Intended To Have The
Effect Of Affording Protection To Those Burghers Who Desired To
Cease Fighting, But Who Were Unable To Do So Without Incurring The
Enmity Of Their Irreconcilable Brethren.
'It is hereby notified,'
said the document, 'to all burghers that if after this date they
voluntarily surrender
They will be allowed to live with their
families in Government laagers until such time as the guerilla
warfare now being carried on will admit of their returning safely
to their homes. All stock and property brought in at the time of
the surrender of such burghers will be respected and paid for if
requisitioned.' This wise and liberal offer was sedulously
concealed from their men by the leaders of the fighting commandos,
but was largely taken advantage of by those Boers to whom it was
conveyed. Boer refugee camps were formed at Pretoria, Johannesburg,
Kroonstad, Bloemfontein, Warrenton; and other points, to which by
degrees the whole civil population came to be transferred. It was
the reconcentrado system of Cuba over again, with the essential
difference that the guests of the British Government were well fed
and well treated during their detention. Within a few months the
camps had 50,000 inmates.
It was natural that some of these people, having experienced the
amenity of British rule, and being convinced of the hopelessness of
the struggle, should desire to convey their feelings to their
friends and relations in the field. Both in the Transvaal and in
the Orange River Colony Peace Committees were formed, which
endeavoured to persuade their countrymen to bow to the inevitable.
A remarkable letter was published from Piet de Wet, a man who had
fought bravely for the Boer cause, to his brother, the famous
general. 'Which is better for the Republics,' he asked, 'to
continue the struggle and run the risk of total ruin as a nation,
or to submit? Could we for a moment think of taking back the
country if it were offered to us, with thousands of people to be
supported by a Government which has not a farthing?. . .Put
passionate feeling aside for a moment and use common-sense, and you
will then agree with me that the best thing for the people and the
country is to give in, to be loyal to the new government, and to
get responsible government. . .Should the war continue a few months
longer the nation will become so poor that they will be the working
class in the country, and disappear as a nation in the future. . .
The British are convinced that they have conquered the land and its
people, and consider the matter ended, and they only try to treat
magnanimously those who are continuing the struggle in order to
prevent unnecessary bloodshed.'
Such were the sentiments of those of the burghers who were in
favour of peace. Their eyes had been opened and their bitterness
was transferred from the British Government to those individual
Britons who, partly from idealism and partly from party passion,
had encouraged them to their undoing.
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