I
now impressed upon my officers as forcibly as I could the importance of
intercepting the communications of the enemy by blowing up their trains. A
mechanical device had been thought of, by which this could be done. The
barrel and lock of a gun, in connexion with a dynamite cartridge, were
placed under a sleeper, so that when a passing engine pressed the rail on to
this machine, it exploded, and the train was blown up. It was terrible to
take human lives in such a manner; still, however fearful, it was not
contrary to the rules of civilized warfare, and we were entirely within our
rights in obstructing the enemy's lines of communication in this manner.
Owing to this, the English were obliged to place many more thousands of
soldiers along the railway line, in order to keep the track clear. Even
then, the trains, for a considerable time, could not run by night. The
English soon discovered how we arranged these explosions, and the guards
carefully inspected the lines each day to find out if one of these machines
had been placed beneath the rails. We knew that one had been found and
removed, whenever we saw a train pass over the spot without being blown up.
This, however, only made us more careful. We went to the spot which we had
fixed upon for the explosion, hollowed out the gravel, placed the machine
under the sleeper, and covered it up again, throwing the gravel that was
left to a good distance from the line. After this, the guards could not
discover where the machine was placed. They trebled the troops on the line
in consequence.
The month of July had passed, and we wondered what August held in store for
us. The customary fights of the different commandos still went on; here
five, here ten, here thirty of the English were killed, wounded or made
prisoners. If these numbers had been put down they would have mounted up to
a considerable total; but the war was not of such a nature that an office
could be opened to record them. Reports of battles were sent to me, and
after I had allowed them to accumulate for three or four weeks, they were
sent to the different Vice-Commandants-in-Chief for their general
information, and then torn up.
Many reports and much correspondence concerning the beginning of the war
have been preserved. I gave them to a trustworthy friend with instructions
to bury them, but do not know where he placed them, as he was taken prisoner
later on, and I have never been able to find out where he was sent to. These
documents are of great value, and ought to be published.
I
was on the farm of Blijdschap, between Harrismith and Bethlehem—my English
friends, Generals Knox, Elliott and Paget, with their Colonels Rimington,
Byng, Baker, etc., etc., will not have forgotten where Blijdschap is—when I
received a letter from Lord Kitchener, enclosing his Proclamation of the 7th
of August, 1901.
This proclamation was as follows:
"By his Excellency
Baron Kitchener of Khartoum, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., General
Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in South Africa; High
Commissioner of South Africa, and Administrator of the Transvaal, etc.
"Whereas the former
Orange Free State and South African Republic are annexed to His
Majesty's possessions;
"And whereas His
Majesty's forces have now been for some considerable time in full
possession of the Government seats of both the above-mentioned
territories, with all their public offices and means of administration,
as well as of the principal towns and the whole railway;
"And whereas the
great majority of burghers of the two late Republics (which number
thirty-five thousand over and above those who have been killed in the
war) are now prisoners of war, or have subjected themselves to His
Majesty's Government, and are now living in safety, in villages or camps
under the protection of His Majesty's forces;
"And whereas the
burghers of the late Republics, now under arms against His Majesty's
forces, are not only few in number, but have also lost nearly all their
guns, and war requisites, and are without proper military organization,
and are therefore not in a position to carry on a regular war, or to
make any organized resistance against His Majesty's forces in any part
of the country;
"And whereas the
burghers who are now still under arms, although not in a position to
carry on a regular war, continue to make attacks on small posts and
divisions of His Majesty's forces, to plunder and to destroy farms, and
to cut the railway and telegraph lines, both in the Orange River Colony
and in the Transvaal and other parts of His Majesty's South African
possessions;
"And whereas the
country is thus kept in a state of unrest, and the carrying on of
agriculture and industries is hindered;
"And whereas His
Majesty's Government has decided to make an end of a situation which
involves unnecessary bloodshed and devastation, and which is ruining the
great majority of the inhabitants, who are willing to live in peace, and
are desirous of earning a livelihood for themselves and their families;
"And whereas it is
only just that steps should be taken against those who still resist, and
principally against those persons who are in authority, and who are
responsible for the continuance of the present state of disorganization
in the country, and who instigate their fellow citizens to persist in
their hopeless resistance against His Majesty's Government;
"I, Horatio Herbert
Baron Kitchener, of Khartoum, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., General
Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in South Africa; High
Commissioner in South Africa, on behalf of His Majesty's Government,
proclaim and make known as follows:
"All Commandants,
Veldtcornets and leaders of armed bands—being burghers of the late
Republics—still resisting His Majesty's forces in the Orange River
Colony and the Transvaal, or in any part of His Majesty's South African
possessions, and all members of the Government of the late Orange Free
State and of the late South African Republic, shall, unless they
surrender before the 15th September of this year, be banished for ever
from South Africa; and the cost of maintaining the families of such
burghers shall be recoverable from, and become a charge on, their
properties, whether landed or movable, in both Colonies.
"GOD SAVE THE KING.
"Given under my hand at Pretoria, the seventh day of August, 1901.
"KITCHENER, GENERAL,
High Commissioner of South Africa."
I
answered Lord Kitchener very carefully in the following words:—
"EXCELLENCY,—
"I
acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's missive in which was enclosed
your Proclamation, dated the 7th August, 1901. I and my officers assure your
Excellency that we fight with one aim only—our independence, which we never
can or will sacrifice!"
It
would have been childish to fear that letter and that Proclamation. From the
short answer which I sent to Lord Kitchener, the reader will clearly see the
opinion that I and my officers held concerning it: "Bangmaak is nog niet
doodmaak,"[98] as our proverb says.
It
was curious to see how this Proclamation was taken by the burghers. It had
no effect whatsoever. I heard many burghers say that it would now be seen
whether the officers had the cause of their country really at heart or not,
and whether they were themselves to surrender and lay down their arms before
the 15th of September. I must here declare that I know of no single case
where an officer in consequence of this proclamation surrendered; on the
contrary, when the day fixed by Lord Kitchener for the surrender had passed,
the burghers had more reason to trust in their officers than before; and I
can assure my readers that if at the beginning of the war we had had
officers of the same kind as we had towards the end of the strife, it would
have been easier to have maintained discipline.
September the 15th was thus fixed upon by Lord Kitchener as the last day on
which we should have an opportunity of surrendering. The President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State returned
answer that they would still continue the war, and subsequent events put a
seal to their answer.
Three battles were fought—one by General Brand at Blakfontein, another by
General De la Rey in the west of the Transvaal, and yet another by General
Botha at Itala, all in the month of September.
President Steyn sent Lord Kitchener a long letter, in which he showed most
clearly what the causes of the war had been, and what was the condition of
matters at that time. The letter was as follows:—
IN
THE VELDT, August 15th, 1901.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY, LORD KITCHENER, ETC.
EXCELLENCY,—
I
have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter,
dated Aug. 7th, 1901, enclosing your Excellency's Proclamation of the same
date.
The conciliatory tone of your Excellency's letter encourages me to speak
freely, and to answer it at some length. I have noticed that not only your
Excellency in your letter asserts, but that also responsible statesmen in
your country assert, that the declaration of war from the South African
Republic, and the inroad on the British territory, had been the cause of the
war. I hardly believe it necessary to remind your Excellency that, in 1895,
when the South African Republic was unarmed and peaceful, and had no thought
but that their neighbours were civilized nations, an unexpected attack was
made on them from the British territory. I do not consider it necessary to
point out to your Excellency that the mad enterprise—for surely the
instigators of it could not have been sane—miscarried, and the whole body of
invaders fell into the hands of the South African Republic. The South
African Government, trusting in the integrity of the English nation, handed
over to His Majesty's Government all the persons whom they had taken
prisoner, notwithstanding that, in conformity with international law, these
persons had merited death.
I
also do not consider it necessary to remind your Excellency that after an
honest judge had condemned the leaders of this expedition to imprisonment,
the most prominent of them were not compelled to serve the whole of their
time, but, previous to its termination, were liberated for various most
insufficient reasons. Neither need I remind your Excellency that when a
Parliamentary Commission was nominated, to investigate the causes and
reasons of the said expedition, this Commission, instead of investigating
the matter, would not allow the proofs to come to light, and that, when the
Commission, notwithstanding the high influence at work during its sitting,
had found the chief conspirator, Mr. Rhodes, guilty, and had reported him as
such to Parliament, Mr. Chamberlain, who was one of the members of the
Commission, contradicted his own report[99] by defending Mr. Rhodes.
Your Excellency will have to acknowledge that the South African Republic as
well as the civilized world was perfectly justified in coming to the
conclusion that the Jameson expedition, which we first believed to have been
undertaken by irresponsible persons, and without the cognizance of His
Majesty's Government, was well known, if not to all, yet still to some
members of His Majesty's Government. I need not remind your Excellency that
since that time, not only has no reasonable indemnity been paid to the South
African Republic, as was at that time promised, but also that the Republic
has been harassed with despatches and threats concerning its internal
Government. I also need not tell your Excellency that outside influence was
used in order that memorials to His Majesty's Government might be drawn up
concerning alleged grievances, so that His Majesty's Government might have
the desired opportunity of interfering with the inner policy of the South
African Republic.
As
I have said, I do not think it necessary to remind your Excellency of the
above-mentioned facts, because I am of opinion that they are well known to
you. I, however, should like your Excellency to be good enough to pay
attention to the following facts:—
When, at the time of the circulation of the last-mentioned Memorial, I could
see that a certain party was working hard to involve the British Government
in a war with the South African Republic, I stepped into the breach, and
endeavoured, by bringing the parties together, and by using my influence
with the South African Republic, to induce the latter to give in to the
demands of His Majesty's Government in order to maintain the peace.
I
succeeded in getting the Transvaal to yield, not because I was of the
opinion that the English Government had any right to make such demands, but
only in order to prevent bloodshed. When the British Government was still
not satisfied, then the South African Government made concession after
concession to the ever-increasing demands made upon them, until at last
there came a request that the law on franchise should be laid before a
Commission. On the behest of the British Agent in Pretoria, the South
African Republic made a proposal granting far more than was demanded by the
High Commissioner. As this proposal was not accepted by His Majesty's
Government, who made yet further demands, the South African Republic
withdrew their proposal, and declared themselves willing to accept England's
proposal to lay the law before the Commission. The British Government then
closed all correspondence, and wrote to the South African Republic saying
that they would make their demands later on. In other words, the British
Government then gave to the South African Republic an ultimatum, and it was
clear that they were only prevented from commencing the war at once by the
fact that they had not then landed sufficient troops in the country.
The Orange Free State Government then again came to the rescue, in order to
attempt at the last moment to avoid the war, and cabled through the High
Commissioner direct to the British Government, asking for information as to
the nature of the demands which were to be made upon the South African
Republic; which cable, to my sorrow, was never sent in its entirety. The
only answer to my cable was the continual arrival of transports of troops
from all quarters of the globe, which were massed, not only on the frontier
of the South African Republic, but also on the frontiers of the still
friendly Orange Free State. Then, when the South African Republic saw that
England had no intention of repairing the alleged grievances, but had only
brought them up as an excuse for depriving the Republic of its independence,
they requested that the troops might be taken from their frontiers, and that
all disputes might be settled by arbitration. This happened about three
weeks after the British Government had issued their ultimatum, and about one
month after the Orange Free State Government had received a wire asking them
to remain neutral, thus clearly giving them to understand that the British
Government intended to make war on the South African Government. This
telegram was sent to the Orange Free State because they knew that the latter
had made a defensive alliance with the South African Republic since the year
1899.
Then the South African Republic decided that they must defend their
frontiers against the enemy who threatened their borders, and I was obliged
to take a most painful step, namely, that of severing the bonds of
friendship that existed between us and the British Government, and, true to
our alliance with the Transvaal, to help the sister Republic. That we were
perfectly correct in our surmise that the British Government had firmly
decided to wipe out the two Republics has been clearly proved since the
breaking out of the war. It was not only made evident from the documents
that fell into our hands, although there it was easy to gather that since
1896, that is from Jameson's raid, the British Government was firmly
determined to make an inroad into the two Republics: only lately it has been
acknowledged by Lord Lansdowne that he in June, 1899, had already discussed
with Lord Wolseley (then Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's troops), the
best time at which to make an attack on the two Republics. Your Excellency
will thus see that it was not we who drew the sword, but that we only put it
away from our throats. We have only acted in self-defence—one of the holiest
rights of man—in order to assert our right to exist. And therefore I think,
with all respect, that we have a right to trust in a just God.
I
again observe that your Excellency reverts to the impossibility of
intervention by any foreign power, and that your Excellency interprets our
resistance as only based on the hope of such intervention.
With your Excellency's permission, I should like to clear up our position
with regard to intervention. It is this: We hope, and still are hoping, that
the moral feeling of the civilized world would protest against the crime
which England is now permitting in South Africa, namely, that of
endeavouring to exterminate a young nation, but we were still firmly
determined that, should our hopes not be realized, we would exert our utmost
strength to defend ourselves, and this decision, based on a firm trust in a
merciful God, is still unshaken in us.
I
further notice that your Excellency thinks that our fight is hopeless. I do
not know on what grounds this assumption is based. Let us for a moment
compare our mutual situations of to-day with those of a year ago, after the
surrender of General Prinsloo. Then, the Cape Colony was altogether quiet,
and free from our commandos. The Orange Free State was almost entirely in
your hands, not only as regards the principal townships, railway lines and
villages, but also the whole country, except where Commandant Hasebroek was,
with his commando. And in the South African Republic the situation was very
similar. That country was also mainly held by you, except in the parts which
General De la Rey and General Botha occupied with their commandos, far up in
the Boschveldt.
How do matters stand now?
The Cape Colony is, so to speak, overrun by our commandos, and they are
really in temporary possession of the greater part of Cape Colony. They go
about there as they choose, and many of our nationality and others also are
continuing to join us there, and uniting forces with us against the cruel
injustice that is being done to the Republics.
In
the Orange Free State I willingly acknowledge that your Excellency is in
possession of the Capital, the railways, and some other towns not on the
railways, but that is all that your Excellency has got. The whole of the
Orange Free State, except the parts which I have just mentioned, is in our
possession. In most of the principal towns there are landdrosts[100]
appointed by us; thus in this State the keeping of order and the
administration of justice are managed by us, and not by your Excellency. In
the Transvaal it is just the same. There also justice and order are managed
by magistrates appointed by our Government.
May I be permitted to say that your Excellency's jurisdiction is limited by
the range of your Excellency's guns. If your Excellency will look on the
matter from a military point of view then it must be acknowledged that
notwithstanding the enormous forces that are brought against us in the
field, our cause, in the past year, has made wonderful progress. Therefore
we need be in no way discouraged, and, if your Proclamation is based on the
assumption that we are so, then it has now even less justification than it
had a year ago. I am sorry that anything I say should appear boastful, but
the assertions in your Excellency's Proclamation compel me to speak in this
manner.
With regard to the 35,000 men which your Excellency says are in your hands,
I cannot speak as to the numbers, but this much I will say, I am not
referring to those men who were led astray by the Proclamation of your
Excellency's predecessor, and so failed in their duty to their Government;
nor to those—thank God they are but few—who from treachery or other cause
have gone over to the enemy; but of the remainder who have been taken, not
too honestly, as prisoners of war, and are still kept as such. Of these I
will say that they are either old men and feeble, or young boys not yet of
age, who were carried off by force from their farms by your Excellency's
troops, and shut up against their will in your Excellency's camps. To say of
these therefore, that they are "dwelling peacefully with you," is an
assertion which can hardly be taken seriously. I am able to say with perfect
truth, that except the prisoners, and the few who have gone over to the
enemy, the overpowering majority of the fighting burghers are still under
arms. As regards those who have gone over from us to the enemy—a rare
occurrence now—I can only say that our experience is not unique, for history
shows that in all wars for freedom, as in America and elsewhere, there were
such: and we shall try to get on without them.
As
regards the 74,000 women and children who, as your Excellency alleges, are
maintained in the camps, it appears to me that your Excellency must be
unaware of the cruel manner in which these defenceless ones were dragged
away from their dwellings by your Excellency's troops, who first destroyed
all the goods and property of their wretched captives. Yes, to such a pass
had it come, that whenever your men were seen approaching, the poor
sacrifices of the war, in all weathers, by day and by night, would flee from
their dwellings in order that they might not be taken.
Does your Excellency realize that your troops have not been ashamed to fire
(in the full knowledge of what they were doing) with guns and small arms on
our helpless ones when they, to avoid capture, had taken flight, either
alone or with their waggons, and thus many women and children have been
killed and wounded. I will give you an instance. Not long ago, on the 6th of
June, at Graspan, near Reitz, a camp of women, falsely reported as a convoy
to your Excellency, was taken by your troops. This was rescued again by us,
whilst your troops took shelter behind our women, and when your
reinforcement came up, they opened fire with guns and small arms on that
camp, notwithstanding the fact that they knew it contained women only.
I
can quote hundreds of cases of this kind, but I do not think it necessary,
because if your Excellency will take the trouble to ask any soldier who
respects the truth, he will be compelled to confirm my assertion. To say
that the women are in your camps of their own free will is not in accordance
with the facts, and for any one to assert that they are brought to the camps
because the Boers are unwilling to provide for the maintenance of their
families as it is said that His Excellency the Minister for War has asserted
in Parliament, is to make himself guilty of calumny, that will do more harm
to the calumniator than to us, and is a statement which I am sure can never
meet with your Excellency's approval.
Now, as regards the Proclamation itself, I can give your Excellency the
assurance as far as I am myself concerned, that it will make no difference
to my fulfilling my duty faithfully to the end, for I shall be guided by my
conscience and not by the enemy. Our country is ruined; our hearths and
homes are wrecked; our cattle are looted, or killed by the thousand; our
women and children are made prisoners, insulted, and carried away by the
troops and armed Kaffirs; and many hundreds have already given their lives
for the freedom of their fatherland. Can we now—when it is merely a question
of banishment—shrink from our duty? Can we become faithless to the hundreds
of killed and prisoners, who, trusting in our firmness, offered their lives
and freedom for the fatherland? Or can we lose faith in a just God, who has
so wonderfully upheld us till now? I am convinced that should we do so, we
should be despised not only by your Excellency and all honest men, but also
by ourselves.
I
will close by giving your Excellency the assurance that no one is more
anxious than I to see peace restored, and I am therefore ready to meet your
Excellency at any time in order to discuss the terms on which this peace can
be arranged; but in order that I may not mislead your Excellency, I have to
say that no peace will be accepted by us which imperils the independence of
the two Republics, or which does not take into consideration the interests
of our Colonial brethren who have joined us. If it is a crime to fight in
one's self-defence, and if such a crime is to be punished, then I am of
opinion that His Majesty's Government should be satisfied with the
annihilation of the country, the misery of women and children and the
general desolation which this war has already caused. It is in your
Excellency's power more than in that of any one else, to put a stop to this,
and by doing so, to restore this unfortunate part of the world to its former
happiness. We ask no magnanimity, we only demand justice. I enclose a
translation of my letter in order to avoid any misinterpretation of it by
your Excellency, as this happened not long ago when a letter which I had
written to the Government of the South African Republic, and which at Reitz
fell into your hands, was published in such a way that it was nearly
unrecognizable, as not only was it wrongly interpreted in some places, but
sentences were inserted which had never been written, and other parts were
left out altogether, so that an entirely wrong meaning was given to the
letter.
I
have the honour, etc.,
M.T. STEYN,
State-President of the Orange Free State.
[98] Nobody dies of fright.
[99] The report of the Commission of which he was a member.
[100] Resident Magistrates.
