[A] Since these lines were written Lord Roberts has personally testified
to the misuse of the white flag in the Paardeberg fighting.
[B] Cf. _The River War_, by Winston Spencer Churchill, vol. ii., p. 394.
"It is the habit of the boa-constrictor to besmear the body of its
victim with a foul slime before he devours it; and there are many people
in England, and perhaps elsewhere, who seem to be unable to contemplate
military operations for clear political objects, unless they can cajole
themselves into the belief that the enemy is utterly and hopelessly
vile."
[C] _Cf._ Tacitus, _Agricola_, xxvii.: Iniquissima haec bellorum
condicio est; prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni imputantur.