PREFACE

In the following pages I have endeavoured topresent an accurate picture of the Boers inwar-time. My duties as a newspaper correspondentcarried me to the Boer side, and hereinI depict all that I saw. Some parts of mynarrative may not be pleasing to the Britishreader; others may offend the sensibilities of theBoer sympathisers. I have written truthfully, butwith a kindly spirit and with the intention ofpresenting an unbiased account of the struggle asit was unfolded to the view from the Boer side.I shall be criticised, no doubt, for extolling certainvirtues of the Boers, but it must be noticed thattheir shortcomings are not neglected in these lines.

In referring to Boer deeds of bravery I do notmean to insinuate that all British soldiers werecowards any more than I mean to imply that allBoers were brave, but any man who has been with[6]armies will acknowledge that bravery is not theexclusive property of the peoples of one nation.The Boers themselves had thousands of examplesof the bravery of their opponents, and it was notan extraordinary matter to hear burghers expresstheir admiration of deeds of valour by the soldiersof the Queen. The burghers, it may be added,were not bitter enemies of the British soldiers, andupon hundreds of occasions they displayed themost friendly feeling toward members of theImperial forces. The Boer respected the Britishsoldier’s ability, but the same respect was notvouchsafed to the British officer, and it was notunreasonable that a burgher should form such anopinion of the leaders of his enemy, for themistakes of many of the British officers were sofrequent and costly that the most unmilitary mancould easily discern them. On that account theBoers’ respect for the British soldier was notwithout its mixture of pity.

There are those who will assert that there wasno goodness in the Boers and that they conductedthe war unfairly, but I shall make no attempt todeny any of the statements on those subjects.My sympathies were with the Boers, but they werenot so strong that I should tell untruths in orderto whiten the Boer character. There were thievesamong them—I had a horse and a pair of field-glasses[7]stolen from me on my first journey to thefront—but that does not prove that all the Boerswere wicked. I spent many weeks with them, intheir laagers, commandos, and homes, and I havenone but the happiest recollections of my sojournin the Boer country. The generals and burghers,from the late Commandant-General Joubert to theveriest Takhaar, were extremely courteous andagreeable to me, and I have nothing but praise fortheir actions. In all my experiences wit

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