He
Issued A Proclamation To The Inhabitants Of The Free State
Promising Protection To All Who Should Bring In Their Arms And
Settle Down Upon Their Farms.
The most stringent orders were issued
against looting or personal violence, but nothing could exceed the
gentleness and good humour of the troops.
Indeed there seemed more
need for an order which should protect them against the extortion
of their conquered enemies. It is strange to think that we are
separated by only ninety years from the savage soldiery of Badajoz
and San Sebastian.
The streets of the little Dutch town formed during this interval a
curious object-lesson in the resources of the Empire. All the
scattered Anglo-Celtic races had sent their best blood to fight for
the common cause. Peace is the great solvent, as war is the
powerful unifier. For the British as for the German Empire much
virtue had come from the stress and strain of battle. To stand in
the market square of Bloemfontein and to see the warrior types
around you was to be assured of the future of the race. The
middle-sized, square-set, weather-tanned, straw-bearded British
regulars crowded the footpaths. There also one might see the
hard-faced Canadians, the loose-limbed dashing Australians,
fireblooded and keen, the dark New Zealanders, with a Maori touch
here and there in their features, the gallant men of Tasmania, the
gentlemen troopers of India and Ceylon, and everywhere the wild
South African irregulars with their bandoliers and unkempt wiry
horses, Rimington's men with the racoon bands, Roberts's Horse with
the black plumes, some with pink puggarees, some with birdseye, but
all of the same type, hard, rugged, and alert.
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