A Year Of The Kopje And
The Donga Had Altered All That.
And in the proportion of casualties
another very marked change had occurred.
Time was when in battle
after battle a tenth would have been a liberal estimate for the
losses of the Boers compared with those of the Briton. So it was at
Stormberg; so it was at Colenso; so it may have been at
Magersfontein. But in this last stage of the war the balance was
rather in favour of the British. It may have been because they were
now frequently acting on the defensive, or it may have been from an
improvement in their fire, or it may have come from the more
desperate mood of the burghers, but in any case the fact remains
that every encounter diminished the small reserves of the Boers
rather than the ample forces of their opponents.
One other change had come over the war, which caused more distress
and searchings of conscience among some of the people of Great
Britain than the darkest hours of their misfortunes. This lay in
the increased bitterness of the struggle, and in those more
strenuous measures which the British commanders felt themselves
entitled and compelled to adopt. Nothing could exceed the lenity of
Lord Roberts's early proclamations in the Free State. But, as the
months went on and the struggle still continued, the war assumed a
harsher aspect. Every farmhouse represented a possible fort, and a
probable depot for the enemy. The extreme measure of burning them
down was only carried out after a definite offence, such as
affording cover for snipers, or as a deterrent to railway wreckers,
but in either case it is evident that the women or children who
were usually the sole occupants of the farm could not by their own
unaided exertions prevent the line from being cut or the riflemen
from firing.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 591 of 842
Words from 158047 to 158361
of 225456
