CHAPTER 25.
THE MARCH ON PRETORIA.
In the early days of May, when the season of the rains was past and
the veld was green, Lord Roberts's six weeks of enforced inaction
came to an end. He had gathered himself once more for one of those
tiger springs which should be as sure and as irresistible as that
which had brought him from Belmont to Bloemfontein, or that other
in olden days which had carried him from Cabul to Candahar. His
army had been decimated by sickness, and eight thousand men had
passed into the hospitals; but those who were with the colours were
of high heart, longing eagerly for action. Any change which would
carry them away from the pest-ridden, evil-smelling capital which
had revenged itself so terribly upon the invader must be a change
for the better. Therefore it was with glad faces and brisk feet
that the centre column left Bloemfontein on May 1st, and streamed,
with bands playing, along the northern road.
On May 3rd the main force was assembled at Karee, twenty miles upon
their way. Two hundred and twenty separated them from Pretoria, but
in little more than a month from the day of starting, in spite of
broken railway, a succession of rivers, and the opposition of the
enemy, this army was marching into the main street of the Transvaal
capital. Had there been no enemy there at all, it would still have
been a fine performance, the more so when one remembers that the
army was moving upon a front of twenty miles or more, each part of
which had to be co-ordinated to the rest. It is with the story of
this great march that the present chapter deals.
Roberts had prepared the way by clearing out the south-eastern
corner of the State, and at the moment of his advance his forces
covered a semicircular front of about forty miles, the right under
Ian Hamilton near Thabanchu, and the left at Karee. This was the
broad net which was to be swept from south to north across the Free
State, gradually narrowing as it went. The conception was
admirable, and appears to have been an adoption of the Boers' own
strategy, which had in turn been borrowed from the Zulus. The solid
centre could hold any force which faced it, while the mobile
flanks, Hutton upon the left and Hamilton upon the right, could lap
round and pin it, as Cronje was pinned at Paardeberg. It seems
admirably simple when done upon a small scale. But when the scale
is one of forty miles, since your front must be broad enough to
envelop the front which is opposed to it, and when the scattered
wings have to be fed with no railway line to help, it takes such a
master of administrative detail as Lord Kitchener to bring the
operations to complete success.
On May 3rd, the day of the advance from our most northern post,
Karee, the disposition of Lord Roberts's army was briefly as
follows. On his left was Hutton, with his mixed force of mounted
infantry drawn from every quarter of the empire. This formidable
and mobile body, with some batteries of horse artillery and of
pom-poms, kept a line a few miles to the west of the railroad,
moving northwards parallel with it. Roberts's main column kept on
the railroad, which was mended with extraordinary speed by the
Railway Pioneer regiment and the Engineers, under Girouard and the
ill-fated Seymour. It was amazing to note the shattered culverts as
one passed, and yet to be overtaken by trains within a day. This
main column consisted of Pole-Carew's 11th Division, which
contained the Guards, and Stephenson's Brigade (Warwicks, Essex,
Welsh, and Yorkshires). With them were the 83rd, 84th, and 85th
R.F.A., with the heavy guns, and a small force of mounted infantry.
Passing along the widespread British line one would then, after an
interval of seven or eight miles, come upon Tucker's Division (the
7th), which consisted of Maxwell's Brigade (formerly
Chermside's--the Norfolks, Lincolns, Hampshires, and Scottish
Borderers) and Wavell's Brigade (North Staffords, Cheshires, East
Lancashires, South Wales Borderers). To the right of these was
Ridley's mounted infantry. Beyond them, extending over very many
miles of country and with considerable spaces between, there came
Broadwood's cavalry, Bruce Hamilton's Brigade (Derbyshires, Sussex,
Camerons, and C.I.V.), and finally on the extreme right of all Ian
Hamilton's force of Highlanders, Canadians, Shropshires, and
Cornwalls, with cavalry and mounted infantry, starting forty miles
from Lord Roberts, but edging westwards all the way, to merge with
the troops next to it, and to occupy Winburg in the way already
described. This was the army, between forty and fifty thousand
strong, with which Lord Roberts advanced upon the Transvaal.
In the meantime he had anticipated that his mobile and enterprising
opponents would work round and strike at our rear. Ample means had
been provided for dealing with any attempt of the kind. Rundle with
the 8th Division and Brabant's Colonial Division remained in rear
of the right flank to confront any force which might turn it. At
Bloemfontein were Kelly-Kenny's Division (the 6th) and Chermside's
(the 3rd), with a force of cavalry and guns. Methuen, working from
Kimberley towards Boshof, formed the extreme left wing of the main
advance, though distant a hundred miles from it. With excellent
judgment Lord Roberts saw that it was on our right flank that
danger was to be feared, and here it was that every precaution had
been taken to meet it.
The objective of the first day's march was the little town of
Brandfort, ten miles north of Karee. The head of the main column
faced it, while the left arm swept round and drove the Boer force
from their position. Tucker's Division upon the right encountered
some opposition, but overbore it with artillery. May 4th was a day
of rest for the infantry, but on the 5th they advanced, in the same
order as before, for twenty miles, and found themselves to the
south of the Vet River, where the enemy had prepared for an
energetic resistance. A vigorous artillery duel ensued, the British
guns in the open as usual against an invisible enemy. After three
hours of a very hot fire the mounted infantry got across the river
upon the left and turned the Boer flank, on which they hastily
withdrew. The first lodgment was effected by two bodies of
Canadians and New Zealanders, who were energetically supported by
Captain Anley's 3rd Mounted Infantry. The rushing of a kopje by
twenty-three West Australians was another gallant incident which
marked this engagement, in which our losses were insignificant. A
maxim and twenty or thirty prisoners were taken by Hutton's men.
The next day (May 6th) the army moved across the difficult drift of
the Vet River, and halted that night at Smaldeel, some five miles
to the north of it. At the same time Ian Hamilton had been able to
advance to Winburg, so that the army had contracted its front by
about half, but had preserved its relative positions. Hamilton,
after his junction with his reinforcements at Jacobsrust, had under
him so powerful a force that he overbore all resistance. His
actions between Thabanchu and Winburg had cost the Boers heavy
loss, and in one action the German legion had been overthrown. The
informal warfare which was made upon us by citizens of many nations
without rebuke from their own Governments is a matter of which
pride, and possibly policy, have forbidden us to complain, but it
will be surprising if it does not prove that their laxity has
established a very dangerous precedent, and they will find it
difficult to object when, in the next little war in which either
France or Germany is engaged, they find a few hundred British
adventurers carrying a rifle against them.
The record of the army's advance is now rather geographical than
military, for it rolled northwards with never a check save that
which was caused by the construction of the railway diversions
which atoned for the destruction of the larger bridges. The
infantry now, as always in the campaign, marched excellently; for
though twenty miles in the day may seem a moderate allowance to a
healthy man upon an English road, it is a considerable performance
under an African sun with a weight of between thirty and forty
pounds to be carried. The good humour of the men was admirable, and
they eagerly longed to close with the elusive enemy who flitted
ever in front of them. Huge clouds of smoke veiled the northern
sky, for the Boers had set fire to the dry grass, partly to cover
their own retreat, and partly to show up our khaki upon the
blackened surface. Far on the flanks the twinkling heliographs
revealed the position of the wide-spread wings.
On May 10th Lord Roberts's force, which had halted for three days
at Smaldeel, moved onwards to Welgelegen. French's cavalry had come
up by road, and quickly strengthened the centre and left wing of
the army. On the morning of the 10th the invaders found themselves
confronted by a formidable position which the Boers had taken up on
the northern bank of the Sand River. Their army extended over
twenty miles of country, the two Bothas were in command, and
everything pointed to a pitched battle. Had the position been
rushed from the front, there was every material for a second
Colenso, but the British had learned that it was by brains rather
than by blood that such battles may be won. French's cavalry turned
the Boers on one side, and Bruce Hamilton's infantry on the other.
Theoretically we never passed the Boer flanks, but practically
their line was so over-extended that we were able to pierce it at
any point. There was never any severe fighting, but rather a steady
advance upon the British side and a steady retirement upon that of
the Boers. On the left the Sussex regiment distinguished itself by
the dash with which it stormed an important kopje. The losses were
slight, save among a detached body of cavalry which found itself
suddenly cut off by a strong force of the enemy and lost Captain
Elworthy killed, and Haig of the Inniskillings, Wilkinson of the
Australian Horse, and twenty men prisoners. We also secured forty
or fifty prisoners, and the enemy's casualties amounted to about as
many more. The whole straggling action fought over a front as broad
as from London to Woking cost the British at the most a couple of
hundred casualties, and carried their army over the most formidable
defensive position which they were to encounter. The war in its
later phases certainly has the pleasing characteristic of being the
most bloodless, considering the number of men engaged and the
amount of powder burned, that has been known in history. It was at
the expense of their boots and not of their lives that the infantry
won their way.
On May 11th Lord Roberts's army advanced twenty miles to Geneva
Siding, and every preparation was made for a battle next day, as it
was thought certain that the Boers would defend their new capital,
Kroonstad. It proved, however, that even here they would not make a
stand, and on May 12th, at one o'clock, Lord Roberts rode into the
town. Steyn, Botha, and De Wet escaped, and it was announced that
the village of Lindley had become the new seat of government. The
British had now accomplished half their journey to Pretoria, and it
was obvious that on the south side of the Vaal no serious
resistance awaited them. Burghers were freely surrendering
themselves with their arms, and returning to their farms. In the
south-east Rundle and Brabant were slowly advancing, while the
Boers who faced them fell back towards Lindley. On the west, Hunter
had crossed the Vaal at Windsorton, and Barton's Fusilier Brigade
had fought a sharp action at Rooidam, while Mahon's Mafeking relief
column had slipped past their flank, escaping the observation of
the British public, but certainly not that of the Boers. The
casualties in the Rooidam action were nine killed and thirty
wounded, but the advance of the Fusiliers was irresistible, and for
once the Boer loss, as they were hustled from kopje to kopje,
appears to have been greater than that of the British. The Yeomanry
had an opportunity of showing once more that there are few more
high-mettled troops in South Africa than these good sportsmen of
the shires, who only showed a trace of their origin in their
irresistible inclination to burst into a 'tally-ho!' when ordered
to attack. The Boer forces fell back after the action along the
line of the Vaal, making for Christiana and Bloemhof. Hunter
entered into the Transvaal in pursuit of them, being the first to
cross the border, with the exception of raiding Rhodesians early in
the war. Methuen, in the meanwhile, was following a course parallel
to Hunter but south of him, Hoopstad being his immediate objective.
The little union jacks which were stuck in the war maps in so many
British households were now moving swiftly upwards.
Buller's force was also sweeping northwards, and the time had come
when the Ladysmith garrison, restored at last to health and
strength, should have a chance of striking back at those who had
tormented them so long. Many of the best troops had been drafted
away to other portions of the seat of war. Hart's Brigade and
Barton's Fusilier Brigade had gone with Hunter to form the 10th
Division upon the Kimberley side, and the Imperial Light Horse had
been brought over for the relief of Mafeking. There remained,
however, a formidable force, the regiments in which had been
strengthened by the addition of drafts and volunteers from home.
Not less than twenty thousand sabres and bayonets were ready and
eager for the passage of the Biggarsberg mountains.
This line of rugged hills is pierced by only three passes, each of
which was held in strength by the enemy. Considerable losses must
have ensued from any direct attempt to force them. Buller, however,
with excellent judgment, demonstrated in front of them with
Hildyard's men, while the rest of the army, marching round,
outflanked the line of resistance, and on May 15th pounced upon
Dundee. Much had happened since that October day when Penn Symons
led his three gallant regiments up Talana Hill, but now at last,
after seven weary months, the ground was reoccupied which he had
gained. His old soldiers visited his grave, and the national flag
was raised over the remains of as gallant a man as ever died for
the sake of it.
The Boers, whose force did not exceed a few thousands, were now
rolled swiftly back through Northern Natal into their own country.
The long strain at Ladysmith had told upon them, and the men whom
we had to meet were very different from the warriors of Spion Kop
and Nicholson's Nek. They had done magnificently, but there is a
limit to human endurance, and no longer would these peasants face
the bursting lyddite and the bayonets of angry soldiers. There is
little enough for us to boast of in this. Some pride might be taken
in the campaign when at a disadvantage we were facing superior
numbers, but now we could but deplore the situation in which these
poor valiant burghers found themselves, the victims of a rotten
government and of their own delusions. Hofer's Tyrolese, Charette's
Vendeans, or Bruce's Scotchmen never fought a finer fight than
these children of the veld, but in each case they combated a real
and not an imaginary tyrant. It is heart-sickening to think of the
butchery, the misery, the irreparable losses, the blood of men, and
the bitter tears of women, all of which might have been spared had
one obstinate and ignorant man been persuaded to allow the State
which he ruled to conform to the customs of every other civilised
State upon the earth.
Buller was now moving with a rapidity and decision which contrast
pleasantly with some of his earlier operations. Although Dundee was
only occupied on May 15th, on May 18th his vanguard was in
Newcastle, fifty miles to the north. In nine days he had covered
138 miles. On the 19th the army lay under the loom of that Majuba
which had cast its sinister shadow for so long over South African
politics. In front was the historical Laing's Nek, the pass which
leads from Natal into the Transvaal, while through it runs the
famous railway tunnel. Here the Boers had taken up that position
which had proved nineteen years before to be too strong for British
troops. The Rooineks had come back after many days to try again. A
halt was called, for the ten days' supplies which had been taken
with the troops were exhausted, and it was necessary to wait until
the railway should be repaired. This gave time for Hildyard's 5th
Division and Lyttelton's 4th Division to close up on Clery's 2nd
Division, which with Dundonald's cavalry had formed our vanguard
throughout. The only losses of any consequence during this fine
march fell upon a single squadron of Bethune's mounted infantry,
which being thrown out in the direction of Vryheid, in order to
make sure that our flank was clear, fell into an ambuscade and was
almost annihilated by a close-range fire. Sixty-six casualties, of
which nearly half were killed, were the result of this action,
which seems to have depended, like most of our reverses, upon
defective scouting. Buller, having called up his two remaining
divisions and having mended the railway behind him, proceeded now
to manoeuvre the Boers out of Laing's Nek exactly as he had
manoeuvred them out of the Biggarsberg. At the end of May Hildyard
and Lyttelton were despatched in an eastern direction, as if there
were an intention of turning the pass from Utrecht.
It was on May 12th that Lord Roberts occupied Kroonstad, and he
halted there for eight days before he resumed his advance. At the
end of that time his railway had been repaired, and enough supplies
brought up to enable him to advance again without anxiety. The
country through which he passed swarmed with herds and flocks, but,
with as scrupulous a regard for the rights of property as
Wellington showed in the south of France, no hungry soldier was
allowed to take so much as a chicken as he passed. The punishment
for looting was prompt and stern. It is true that farms were burned
occasionally and the stock confiscated, but this was as a
punishment for some particular offence and not part of a system.
The limping Tommy looked askance at the fat geese which covered the
dam by the roadside, but it was as much as his life was worth to
allow his fingers to close round those tempting white necks. On
foul water and bully beef he tramped through a land of plenty.
Lord Roberts's eight days' halt was spent in consolidating the
general military situation. We have already shown how Buller had
crept upwards to the Natal Border. On the west Methuen reached
Hoopstad and Hunter Christiana, settling the country and collecting
arms as they went. Rundle in the south-east took possession of the
rich grain lands, and on May 21st entered Ladybrand. In front of
him lay that difficult hilly country about Senekal, Ficksburg, and
Bethlehem which was to delay him so long. Ian Hamilton was feeling
his way northwards to the right of the railway line, and for the
moment cleared the district between Lindley and Heilbron, passing
through both towns and causing Steyn to again change his capital,
which became Vrede, in the extreme north-east of the State. During
these operations Hamilton had the two formidable De Wet brothers in
front of him, and suffered nearly a hundred casualties in the
continual skirmishing which accompanied his advance. His right
flank and rear were continually attacked, and these signs of forces
outside our direct line of advance were full of menace for the
future.
On May 22nd the main army resumed its advance, moving forward
fifteen miles to Honing's Spruit. On the 23rd another march of
twenty miles over a fine rolling prairie brought them to Rhenoster
River. The enemy had made some preparations for a stand, but
Hamilton was near Heilbron upon their left and French was upon
their right flank. The river was crossed without opposition. On the
24th the army was at Vredefort Road, and on the 26th the vanguard
crossed the Vaal River at Viljoen's Drift, the whole army following
on the 27th. Hamilton's force had been cleverly swung across from
the right to the left flank of the British, so that the Boers were
massed on the wrong side.
Preparations for resistance had been made on the line of the
railway, but the wide turning movements on the flanks by the
indefatigable French and Hamilton rendered all opposition of no
avail. The British columns flowed over and onwards without a pause,
tramping steadily northwards to their destination. The bulk of the
Free State forces refused to leave their own country, and moved
away to the eastern and northern portion of the State, where the
British Generals thought--incorrectly, as the future was to
prove--that no further harm would come from them. The State which
they were in arms to defend had really ceased to exist, for already
it had been publicly proclaimed at Bloemfontein in the Queen's name
that the country had been annexed to the Empire, and that its style
henceforth was that of 'The Orange River Colony.' Those who think
this measure unduly harsh must remember that every mile of land
which the Freestaters had conquered in the early part of the war
had been solemnly annexed by them. At the same time, those
Englishmen who knew the history of this State, which had once been
the model of all that a State should be, were saddened by the
thought that it should have deliberately committed suicide for the
sake of one of the most corrupt governments which have ever been
known. Had the Transvaal been governed as the Orange Free State
was, such an event as the second Boer war could never have
occurred.
Lord Roberts's tremendous march was now drawing to a close. On May
28th the troops advanced twenty miles, and passed Klip River
without fighting. It was observed with surprise that the
Transvaalers were very much more careful of their own property than
they had been of that of their allies, and that the railway was not
damaged at all by the retreating forces. The country had become
more populous, and far away upon the low curves of the hills were
seen high chimneys and gaunt iron pumps which struck the north of
England soldier with a pang of homesickness. This long distant hill
was the famous Rand, and under its faded grasses lay such riches as
Solomon never took from Ophir. It was the prize of victory; and yet
the prize is not to the victor, for the dust-grimed officers and
men looked with little personal interest at this treasure-house of
the world. Not one penny the richer would they be for the fact that
their blood and their energy had brought justice and freedom to the
gold fields. They had opened up an industry for the world, men of
all nations would be the better for their labours, the miner and
the financier or the trader would equally profit by them, but the
men in khaki would tramp on, unrewarded and uncomplaining, to
India, to China, to any spot where the needs of their worldwide
empire called them.
The infantry, streaming up from the Vaal River to the famous ridge
of gold, had met with no resistance upon the way, but great mist
banks of cloud by day and huge twinkling areas of flame by night
showed the handiwork of the enemy. Hamilton and French, moving upon
the left flank, found Boers thick upon the hills, but cleared them
off in a well-managed skirmish which cost us a dozen casualties. On
May 29th, pushing swiftly along, French found the enemy posted very
strongly with several guns at Doornkop, a point west of Klip River
Berg. The cavalry leader had with him at this stage three horse
batteries, four pom-poms, and 3000 mounted men. The position being
too strong for him to force, Hamilton's infantry (19th and 21st
Brigades) were called up, and the Boers were driven out. That
splendid corps, the Gordons, lost nearly a hundred men in their
advance over the open, and the C.I.V.s on the other flank fought
like a regiment of veterans. There had been an inclination to smile
at these citizen soldiers when they first came out, but no one
smiled now save the General who felt that he had them at his back.
Hamilton's attack was assisted by the menace rather than the
pressure of French's turning movement on the Boer right, but the
actual advance was as purely frontal as any of those which had been
carried through at the beginning of the war. The open formation of
the troops, the powerful artillery behind them, and perhaps also
the lowered morale of the enemy combined to make such a movement
less dangerous than of old. In any case it was inevitable, as the
state of Hamilton's commisariat rendered it necessary that at all
hazards he should force his way through.
Whilst this action of Doornkop was fought by the British left
flank, Henry's mounted infantry in the centre moved straight upon
the important junction of Germiston, which lies amid the huge white
heaps of tailings from the mines. At this point, or near it, the
lines from Johannesburg and from Natal join the line to Pretoria.
Colonel Henry's advance was an extremely daring one, for the
infantry were some distance behind; but after an irregular
scrambling skirmish, in which the Boer snipers had to be driven off
the mine heaps and from among the houses, the 8th mounted infantry
got their grip of the railway and held it. The exploit was a very
fine one, and stands out the more brilliantly as the conduct of the
campaign cannot be said to afford many examples of that
well-considered audacity which deliberately runs the risk of the
minor loss for the sake of the greater gain. Henry was much
assisted by J battery R.H.A., which was handled with energy and
judgment.
French was now on the west of the town, Henry had cut the railway
on the east, and Roberts was coming up from the south. His infantry
had covered 130 miles in seven days, but the thought that every
step brought them nearer to Pretoria was as exhilarating as their
fifes and drums. On May 30th the victorious troops camped outside
the city while Botha retired with his army, abandoning without a
battle the treasure-house of his country. Inside the town were
chaos and confusion. The richest mines in the world lay for a day
or more at the mercy of a lawless rabble drawn from all nations.
The Boer officials were themselves divided in opinion, Krause
standing for law and order while Judge Koch advocated violence. A
spark would have set the town blazing, and the worst was feared
when a crowd of mercenaries assembled in front of the Robinson mine
with threats of violence. By the firmness and tact of Mr. Tucker,
the manager, and by the strong attitude of Commissioner Krause, the
situation was saved and the danger passed. Upon May 31st, without
violence to life or destruction to property, that great town which
British hands have done so much to build found itself at last under
the British flag. May it wave there so long as it covers just laws,
honest officials, and clean-handed administrators--so long and no
longer!
And now the last stage of the great journey had been reached. Two
days were spent at Johannesburg while supplies were brought up, and
then a move was made upon Pretoria thirty miles to the north. Here
was the Boer capital, the seat of government, the home of Kruger,
the centre of all that was anti-British, crouching amid its hills,
with costly forts guarding every face of it. Surely at last the
place had been found where that great battle should be fought which
should decide for all time whether it was with the Briton or with
the Dutchman that the future of South Africa lay.
On the last day of May two hundred Lancers under the command of
Major Hunter Weston, with Charles of the Sappers and Burnham the
scout, a man who has played the part of a hero throughout the
campaign, struck off from the main army and endeavoured to descend
upon the Pretoria to Delagoa railway line with the intention of
blowing up a bridge and cutting the Boer line of retreat. It was a
most dashing attempt; but the small party had the misfortune to
come into contact with a strong Boer commando, who headed them off.
After a skirmish they were compelled to make their way back with a
loss of five killed and fourteen wounded.
The cavalry under French had waited for the issue of this
enterprise at a point nine miles north of Johannesburg. On June 2nd
it began its advance with orders to make a wide sweep round to the
westward, and so skirt the capital, cutting the Pietersburg railway
to the north of it. The country in the direct line between
Johannesburg and Pretoria consists of a series of rolling downs
which are admirably adapted for cavalry work, but the detour which
French had to make carried him into the wild and broken district
which lies to the north of the Little Crocodile River. Here he was
fiercely attacked on ground where his troops could not deploy, but
with extreme coolness and judgment beat off the enemy. To cover
thirty-two miles in a day and fight a way out of an ambuscade in
the evening is an ordeal for any leader and for any troops. Two
killed and seven wounded were our trivial losses in a situation
which might have been a serious one. The Boers appear to have been
the escort of a strong convoy which had passed along the road some
miles in front. Next morning both convoy and opposition had
disappeared. The cavalry rode on amid a country of orange groves,
the troopers standing up in their stirrups to pluck the golden
fruit. There was no further fighting, and on June 4th French had
established himself upon the north of the town, where he learned
that all resistance had ceased.
Whilst the cavalry had performed this enveloping movement the main
army had moved swiftly upon its objective, leaving one brigade
behind to secure Johannesburg. Ian Hamilton advanced upon the left,
while Lord Roberts's column kept the line of the railway, Colonel
Henry's mounted infantry scouting in front. As the army topped the
low curves of the veld they saw in front of them two well-marked
hills, each crowned by a low squat building. They were the famous
southern forts of Pretoria. Between the hills was a narrow neck,
and beyond the Boer capital.
For a time it appeared that the entry was to be an absolutely
bloodless one, but the booming of cannon and the crash of Mauser
fire soon showed that the enemy was in force upon the ridge. Botha
had left a strong rearguard to hold off the British while his own
stores and valuables were being withdrawn from the town. The
silence of the forts showed that the guns had been removed and that
no prolonged resistance was intended; but in the meanwhile fringes
of determined riflemen, supported by cannon, held the approaches,
and must be driven off before an entry could be effected. Each
fresh corps as it came up reinforced the firing line. Henry's
mounted infantrymen supported by the horse-guns of J battery and
the guns of Tucker's division began the action. So hot was the
answer, both from cannon and from rifle, that it seemed for a time
as if a real battle were at last about to take place. The Guards'
Brigade, Stephenson's Brigade, and Maxwell's Brigade streamed up
and waited until Hamilton, who was on the enemy's right flank,
should be able to make his presence felt. The heavy guns had also
arrived, and a huge cloud of debris rising from the Pretorian forts
told the accuracy of their fire.
But either the burghers were half-hearted or there was no real
intention to make a stand. About half-past two their fire slackened
and Pole-Carew was directed to push on. That debonnaire soldier
with his two veteran brigades obeyed the order with alacrity, and
the infantry swept over the ridge, with some thirty or forty
casualties, the majority of which fell to the Warwicks. The
position was taken, and Hamilton, who came up late, was only able
to send on De Lisle's mounted infantry, chiefly Australians, who
ran down one of the Boer maxims in the open. The action had cost us
altogether about seventy men. Among the injured was the Duke of
Norfolk, who had shown a high sense of civic virtue in laying aside
the duties and dignity of a Cabinet Minister in order to serve as a
simple captain of volunteers. At the end of this one fight the
capital lay at the mercy of Lord Roberts. Consider the fight which
they made for their chief city, compare it with that which the
British made for the village of Mafeking, and say on which side is
that stern spirit of self-sacrifice and resolution which are the
signs of the better cause.
In the early morning of June 5th, the Coldstream Guards were
mounting the hills which commanded the town. Beneath them in the
clear African air lay the famous city, embowered in green, the fine
central buildings rising grandly out of the wide circle of villas.
Through the Nek part of the Guards' Brigade and Maxwell's Brigade
had passed, and had taken over the station, from which at least one
train laden with horses had steamed that morning. Two others, both
ready to start, were only just stopped in time.
The first thought was for the British prisoners, and a small party
headed by the Duke of Marlborough rode to their rescue. Let it be
said once for all that their treatment by the Boers was excellent
and that their appearance would alone have proved it. One hundred
and twenty-nine officers and thirty-nine soldiers were found in the
Model Schools, which had been converted into a prison. A day later
our cavalry arrived at Waterval, which is fourteen miles to the
north of Pretoria. Here were confined three thousand soldiers,
whose fare had certainly been of the scantiest, though in other
respects they appear to have been well treated. [Footnote: Further
information unfortunately shows that in the case of the sick and of
the Colonial prisoners the treatment was by no means good.] Nine
hundred of their comrades had been removed by the Boers, but
Porter's cavalry was in time to release the others, under a brisk
shell fire from a Boer gun upon the ridge. Many pieces of good luck
we had in the campaign, but this recovery of our prisoners, which
left the enemy without a dangerous lever for exacting conditions of
peace, was the most fortunate of all.
In the centre of the town there is a wide square decorated or
disfigured by a bare pedestal upon which a statue of the President
was to have been placed. Hard by is the bleak barnlike church in
which he preached, and on either side are the Government offices
and the Law Courts, buildings which would grace any European
capital. Here, at two o'clock on the afternoon of June 5th, Lord
Roberts sat his horse and saw pass in front of him the men who had
followed him so far and so faithfully--the Guards, the Essex, the
Welsh, the Yorks, the Warwicks, the guns, the mounted infantry, the
dashing irregulars, the Gordons, the Canadians, the Shropshires,
the Cornwalls, the Camerons, the Derbys, the Sussex, and the London
Volunteers. For over two hours the khaki waves with their crests of
steel went sweeping by. High above their heads from the summit of
the Raad-saal the broad Union Jack streamed for the first time.
Through months of darkness we had struggled onwards to the light.
Now at last the strange drama seemed to be drawing to its close.
The God of battles had given the long-withheld verdict. But of all
the hearts which throbbed high at that supreme moment there were
few who felt one touch of bitterness towards the brave men who had
been overborne. They had fought and died for their ideal. We had
fought and died for ours. The hope for the future of South Africa
is that they or their descendants may learn that that banner which
has come to wave above Pretoria means no racial intolerance, no
greed for gold, no paltering with injustice or corruption, but that
it means one law for all and one freedom for all, as it does in
every other continent in the whole broad earth. When that is
learned it may happen that even they will come to date a happier
life and a wider liberty from that 5th of June which saw the symbol
of their nation pass for ever from among the ensigns of the world.
