He Was Put Upon His Trial, And His Fate Turned Upon
How Far He Was Responsible For The Misdeeds Of Some Of His
Subordinates.
It was clearly shown that he had endeavoured to hold
them within the bounds of civilised warfare, and with
congratulations and handshakings he was acquitted by the military
court.
In the last two months of the year 1901, a new system was
introduced into the Cape Colony campaign by placing the Colonial
and district troops immediately under the command of Colonial
officers and of the Colonial Government. It had long been felt that
some devolution was necessary, and the change was justified by the
result. Without any dramatic incident, an inexorable process of
attrition, caused by continual pursuit and hardship, wore out the
commandos. Large bands had become small ones, and small ones had
vanished. Only by the union of several bodies could any enterprise
higher than the looting of a farmhouse be successfully attempted.
Such a union occurred, however, in the early days of February 1902,
when Smuts, Malan, and several other Boer leaders showed great
activity in the country round Calvinia. Their commandos seem to
have included a proportion of veteran Republicans from the north,
who were more formidable fighting material than the raw Colonial
rebels. It happened that several dangerously weak British columns
were operating within reach at that time, and it was only owing to
the really admirable conduct of the troops that a serious disaster
was averted. Two separate actions, each of them severe, were fought
on the same date, and in each case the Boers were able to bring
very superior numbers into the field.
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