The War Had Lost Much Of The Good Humour Which Marked Its
Outset.
A fiercer feeling had been engendered on both sides by the
long strain, but the execution of rebels by the British, though
much to be deplored, is still recognised as one of the rights of a
belligerent.
When one remembers the condonation upon the part of
the British of the use of their own uniforms by the Boers, of the
wholesale breaking of paroles, of the continual use of expansive
bullets, of the abuse of the pass system and of the red cross, it
is impossible to blame them for showing some severity in the
stamping out of armed rebellion within their own Colony. If stern
measures were eventually adopted it was only after extreme leniency
had been tried and failed. The loss of five years' franchise as a
penalty for firing upon their own flag is surely the most gentle
correction which an Empire ever laid upon a rebellious people.
At the beginning of August the connected systematic work of
French's columns began to tell. In a huge semicircle the British
were pushing north, driving the guerillas in front of them.
Scheepers in his usual wayward fashion had broken away to the
south, but the others had been unable to penetrate the cordon and
were herded over the Stormberg to Naauwport line. The main body of
the Boers was hustled swiftly along from August 7th to August 10th,
from Graaf-Reinet to Thebus, and thrust over the railway line at
that point with some loss of men and a great shedding of horses.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 734 of 842
Words from 196420 to 196686
of 225456
