ANOTHER BRITISH PROCLAMATION
I went to Witzieshoek to visit my friend Mr. J. J. Ross. What an Elim
the place was to me during the week I stayed there. The surroundings
seemed to transport me two years back into the past. His children
reminded me of my own!
And the books in the study! I read--no, I tasted--here a line from this
author, there a page from another, which is wrong!--oh, I know that! But
still it satisfies a person of my temperament and tastes no less than,
though perhaps more ethereally, it does the reader--yes, the reader--to
devour every book, word for word, that he attacks.
I skimmed--not that I always do this with books: no, generally I too
read; but now I merely skimmed--here a little and there a little.
Besides, I had no time for _reading_. But I had experienced enough to
know now, after having had so many months of the war, where to seek the
greatest minds.
I saw that the man who dips his pen in ink is greater than he who stains
his sword with blood. The man who, out of sight and unaffected by the
world's turmoil, gives his life to the thoughts which are born in
travail, and which, whatever men may say, do rule the world--that man is
greater than he who, in the great world outside, is made a hero of by a
senseless rabble, because he leads a hundred thousand men. This man
leads an army; that man leads the world.
When I was at Witzieshoek, the English passed through Harrismith to
Bethlehem, as they were in the habit of doing almost every week. This
time they had an extract from a proclamation by Lord Kitchener, which
they left behind in their camps, on the buttresses of the bridge over
Elands River, and elsewhere. It was not long before the full text of the
proclamation[11] appeared, and this was not only sent to the
Governments, but officers came out with _flags of truce_ to the
different commandos.
[Footnote 11: This Proclamation runs as follows:--
PROCLAMATION.
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 for South Africa, Administrator of the
Transvaal, etc. etc. etc.
_Whereas_ the late Orange Free State and South African Republics have
been annexed to His Majesty's dominions:
_And whereas_ His Majesty's forces have for a considerable time been in
full possession of both territories aforesaid, together with their
public offices and all the machinery of administration, as well as of
all the principal towns, and of the railways:
_And whereas_ the great majority of the burghers of the two late
Republics, to the number of 35,000, not counting those who have been
killed in the war, are now prisoners of war, or have submitted to His
Majesty's Government, and are now living quietly in villages or camps
under the protection of His Majesty's forces:
_And whereas_ the burghers of the late Republics who are now under arms
against His Majesty's forces are not only few in number, but have lost
almost all their guns and munitions of war, and are without proper
military organisation, and therefore unable to carry on regular warfare,
or to offer any organised opposition to His Majesty's forces in any
portion of the country:
_And whereas_ the burghers who are now still under arms, although unable
to carry on regular warfare, continue to make attacks on small and
isolated posts, and bodies of His Majesty's forces, to rob and destroy
property and to damage railway and telegraph lines, as well in the
Orange River Colony as in the Transvaal, and other portions of His
Majesty's South African dominions:
_And whereas_ the country is thereby kept in a state of unrest, and the
carrying on of agriculture and commerce is prevented:
_And whereas_ His Majesty's Government has resolved to put an end to a
condition which causes the useless shedding of blood, and needless
destruction of property to continue, and is causing the ruin of the
large majority of the population, who are desirous of living in peace,
and to earn a livelihood for themselves and their families:
_And whereas_ it is right to take steps against those who still resist,
and especially against those persons who, having authority, are
responsible for the continuance of the existing condition of affairs,
and who are urging their fellow-burghers to persist in their hopeless
resistance to His Majesty's Government:
_Therefore it is_ that I, Horatio Herbert, Baron of Khartoum, K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G, General Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in South
Africa, High Commissioner of South Africa, by _order of His Majesty's
Government_, proclaim and make known as follows:--
All Commandants, Field-Cornets, and Leaders of armed bands, being
burghers of the late Republics, who still continue to resist His
Majesty's forces in the Orange River Colony and Transvaal, or any other
portion of His Majesty's South African Possessions, and all members of
the Governments of the late Orange River Colony and the South African
Republic shall, unless they surrender before the 15th of September next,
be for ever banished from South Africa; the cost of support of families
of burghers still in the field who shall not have surrendered before the
15th of September shall be claimable against such burghers, and shall be
a charge upon their properties movable as well as immovable.
_God save the King!_
Given under my hand at Pretoria this 7th day of August 1901.
KITCHENER, General,
High Commissioner of South Africa.]
This proclamation made known that the officers and members of the
Government would be banished from South Africa if they did not surrender
before the 15th of September 1901; and that the cost of support of the
families of all burghers who were still under arms on that date would be
claimable against such burghers, and would be a charge upon their
properties, movable as well as immovable. The English had therefore
again issued a proclamation. And how was this received by our burghers?
Many people declared that this proclamation was a sign of weakness;
others spoke of it with the utmost contempt; the majority ignored it,
and everyone looked forward to the 15th September, to see if it would
actually be the case, as everyone expected that this proclamation would
have no effect.
Meanwhile there was, as very frequently was the case, a great deal of
talk about peace. Peace would, it was said, come on the 20th of
September. But the 20th of September came and went, and there was no
peace. After that I never again heard that a day and date had been fixed
on which there would come an end to the war.
From Witzieshoek I went to look for the President, but with the poor
horses that I had I could not reach the place where he was. Meanwhile I
held services wherever I could, both on week-days and Sundays, and where
opportunity offered I noted down my experiences on commando. In this
work I had to cope with peculiar difficulties. Sometimes I wrote at a
table, whilst at other times a window-sill served me as writing-desk;
but the greatest portion of my book was written on the seat of my cart,
whilst I sat crouched on the bottom. I did not always have good ink, and
the first pages of my notes are written in various shades; I had even to
use "Nastagal" ink, made by our women. This ink was to me a new example
of how inventive the Africanders are. Speaking of this gives me the
opportunity of saying something about the many ways in which our people
managed to lighten their burden of misery.
Our boots wore out, and men were appointed to tan hides and make boots;
even women occupied themselves in this kind of work. The war had not
been going for fifteen months when there was a great scarcity of soap.
Then our mothers and sisters boiled a very serviceable article with the
help of the ashes of mealie-cobs and of various weeds. The English
destroyed the mills everywhere; but mills were mounted on waggons and
carried off when the English approached. One such mill ground more than
fifty bags of corn in twenty-four hours. Our corn was done before we had
been fighting a year; but peas, mealies, kaffir-corn, rye, acorns, and
dried peaches were used as substitutes. Through dire necessity a fine
old handicraft of our great grandmothers was revived: the spinning of
wool, which was still plentiful in spite of the devastation of the
enemy. Our mothers and wives and daughters span wool beautifully,
considering the nature of their spinning machines. Spinning-wheels were
fabricated in various ways from old sewing-machines, fruit-peelers, and
so forth. I have seen socks knitted of yarn spun by these primitive
machines, as fine and certainly stronger than those that can be bought
in shops. Our salt was at last quite exhausted, and this was a cause of
great anxiety, especially in districts such as Harrismith, where there
were no salt-pans; but here again our distress was relieved, for wells
were dug in the pans, where no one would have thought of digging before,
and salt water was found. "Everything," it was often remarked, "was
scarce; but nothing completely lacking."
We toiled or plodded along, suffering in silence, where there was no
help for it, but we generally managed to find a way out of the
difficulty. No suffering was too severe, no sacrifice too great but was
gladly undergone or made for the realisation of the great ideal we were
striving for.
What particularly struck me during this period was the boundless wealth
of the Orange Free State. Where all the cattle came from after the
immense devastation by the enemy was beyond my comprehension. We never
were in want of grain, notwithstanding the tens of thousands of tons of
wheat and maize destroyed or rendered unfit for consumption by the
British. And when on a few farms in the grain districts and elsewhere
there was still some wheat over, the fields were again waving, and at
the harvest time they stood yellow for reaping. The problem of clothing
was also solved. I saw several overcoats made from sheepskins, which
answered well. Some burghers wore complete suits made of leather. When
one's clothes wore out they were mended with patches of leather, and
then the garments were called "armoured" coats or pairs of trousers.
Besides this, money was taken to Basutoland, and great quantities of
clothing were bought and secretly brought to the Free State. This was
constantly done notwithstanding the strict vigilance of the enemy.
And then there was the "shaking out" of soldiers; that is, when a
soldier was captured his clothes were taken from him and worn by such
burghers as needed them.
Who will condemn this action?
The enemy had not only cut off all our means of import, so that we were
completely isolated, but had done their utmost to burn our clothes
wherever they could. Whenever, then, a soldier fell into our hands, the
English supplied us with a suit of clothes.
They provided us in the same way with ammunition. Since the commencement
of 1901 the scarcity of ammunition had caused us much anxiety. Many who
were loyal began to ask with misgivings whether this would not
ultimately force us to surrender. But our enemy supplied us. In the
later stages of the war we had scarcely any ammunition at all, except
what we got from England. We were completely dependent on Great Britain,
who took care that we should never be wholly in need. As President Steyn
wrote to the Transvaal Government: "After every fight we had enough
ammunition to commence another with." Towards the end of the war one
seldom saw burghers armed with Mausers. The enemy were fought with their
own rifles and their own ammunition. Has this often happened in the
history of the world? Sunday, 15th of September, was the day fixed by
Lord Kitchener on which the officers and men were given a last
opportunity to lay down their arms without detriment to themselves. The
day came, and who had surrendered? I only heard of two cases in the
districts of Vrede and Harrismith. Besides these, General Brand reported
that about twenty men from his districts had gone to the enemy. I also
heard of one or two cases in other parts of our country. The
proclamation thus was of little effect. There had been a time when the
Boers fell like ripe grain before the scythe of British proclamations.
That time was passed, and the big words and threats of Lord Kitchener
were now of no effect.
This must be attributed partly to the fact that Lord Roberts had not
acted in good faith in relation to what he had promised in his
proclamations; but the chief cause of the firmness of the burghers now
was owing, as General de Wet used to say, to the men having been
"sifted": the chaff was gone, the wheat had remained. The winds of
destruction and the rain-torrents of devastation had finished their work
of attrition on the mountain of Africanderdom. The soft loose soil had
been washed away, only the bed-rock remained.
And what shall I say of those--our own flesh and blood--who went over to
the enemy?
Renegades!--What can I say?
That most of them gave up their arms to the enemy in moments of
despondency I can understand, for I, too, know what dejection is; but
that there were others who drew sword for the English and against us is
hard to understand.
But the traitor, God will punish. It must not, however, be forgotten
that it is not unprecedented in an unformed nation for the faint-hearted
to desert to the enemy. Such a nation still lacks the powerful _esprit
de corps_ which is born of the traditions of the past. There were
thousands of deserters, traitors, and renegades amongst the Americans
during their great struggle.
But the fierce flame of this war has welded us together. The war with
England towers in our past as something mighty and heroic. The future
must always be influenced by it, and our children, looking back, will
realise how close the ties are between themselves and their fathers, and
thereby they will be drawn together into one united people.