OCCUPATION OF PRETORIA.
The enemy naturally profited by our confusion to pursue us more
closely than before. The prospect before us was a sad one, and we
asked ourselves, "What is to be the end of all this, and what is to
become of our poor people? Shall we be able to prolong the struggle,
and for how long?"
But no prolongation of the struggle appeared to have entered into our
enemy's minds, who evidently thought that the War had now come upon
its last stage, and they were as elated as we were downhearted. They
made certain that the Boer was completely vanquished, and his
resistance effectually put an end to. At this juncture Conan Doyle,
after pointing out what glorious liberty and progress would fall to
the Boers' lot under the British flag, wrote:--
"When that is learned it may happen that 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
the ensigns of the world."
Thus, not only did Lord Roberts announce to the world that "the War
was now practically over," but Conan Doyle did not hesitate to say the
same in more eloquent style.
How England utterly under-estimated the determination of the Boers,
subsequent events have plainly proved. It is equally plain that we
ourselves did not know the strength of our resolution, when one takes
into account the pessimism and despair that weighed us down in those
dark days; and as the Union Jack was flying over our Government
buildings we might have exclaimed:--"England, we do not know our
strength, but you know it still less!"
Nearly all the commandos were now in the neighbourhood of Pretoria,
General Botha forming a rearguard, and we determined to defend the
capital as well as we could. But at this juncture some Boer officer
was said to have received a communication from the Government,
informing us that they had decided not to defend the town. A cyclist
was taking this communication round to the different commandos, but
the Commandant-General did not seem to be aware of it, and we tried in
vain to find him so as to discover what his plans were. The greatest
confusion naturally prevailed, and as all the generals gave different
orders, no one knew what was going to be done. I believe General Botha
intended to concentrate the troops round Pretoria, and there offer
some sort of resistance to the triumphant forces of the enemy, and we
had all understood that the capital would be defended to the last; but
this communication altered the position considerably. Shortly
afterwards all the Boer officers met at Irene Estate, near Pretoria,
in a council of war, and were there informed that the Government had
already forsaken the town, leaving a few "feather-bed patriots" to
formally surrender the town to the English.
I thought this decision of easy surrender ridiculous and
inexplicable, and many officers joined me in loud condemnation of it.
I do not remember exactly all that happened at the time, but I know a
telegram arrived from the Commandant-General saying that a crowd had
broken open the Commissariat Buildings in Pretoria and were looting
them. An adjutant was sent into Pretoria to spread an alarm that the
English were entering the town, and this had the effect of driving all
the looters out of it. Some of my own men were engaged in these
predatory operations, and I did not see them again until three days
after.
The English approached Pretoria very cautiously, and directed some big
naval guns on our forts built round the town, to which we replied for
some time with our guns from the "randten," south-west of the town;
but our officers were unable to offer any organised resistance, and
thus on the 5th of June, 1900, the capital of the South African
Republic fell with little ado into the enemy's hands. Bloemfontein,
the capital of the Orange Free State, had months before suffered the
same fate, and thousands of Free Staters had surrendered to the
English as they marched from Bloemfontein to the Transvaal. Happily,
however, in the Free State President Steyn and General De Wet were
still wide awake and Lord Roberts very soon discovered that his long
lines of communication were a source of great trouble and anxiety to
him. The commandos, meanwhile, were reorganised; the buried Mausers
and ammunition were once more resurrected, and soon it became clear
that the Orange Free State was far from conquered.
The fall of Pretoria, indeed, was but a sham victory for the enemy. A
number of officials of the Government remained behind there and
surrendered, together with a number of burghers, amongst these
faint-hearted brethren being even members of the Volksraad and men who
had played a prominent part in the Republic's history; while to the
everlasting shame of them and their race, a number of other Boers
entered at once into the English service and henceforth used their
rifles to shoot at and maim their own fellow-countrymen.