I am afraid the ingenious gentleman in question will have to wait a
while for his whisky.
8th. Quiet all the morning; but this afternoon shell fire began,
killing one man, Protectorate Regiment, and wounding two. Creaky only
fired one round, our snipers keeping her quiet; but sniping all round
made things pretty lively.
9th. Pretty quiet; not much shell fire in the morning, but began in the
evening, and pretty smart sniping continued all day. I must now
endeavour to describe the hospital arrangements, and the noble work done
by the ladies of Mafeking. The hospital arrangements for the defence of
the town were made under the supervision of Dr. Haves, Major Anderson,
R.A.M.C., and Surgeon Holmden assisting him; Major Anderson being
attached to the Protectorate Regiment, which might have been moved at
any time. In addition to being under a hot fire the whole of the first
fight, he accompanied the ambulance to Cannon Kopje, during the fight
there. Bullets whistled round the Red Cross the whole way there and
round the stretchers (which he assisted to carry) on their return to the
shelter of the railway embankment. There may have been some excuse for
firing on the Red Cross during the first fight, on the second occasion
there can have been none; probably the Boers considered that we adopted
the same practice as themselves and brought up our ammunition in
ambulances. Whether this is a valid excuse or not, I will leave my
readers to decide. The Red Cross flag, at the commencement of the siege
floated over the railway embankment, the first dressing station, the
refugee camp dressing station, the women's laager, Messrs. Weil's (who
had placed their house at the disposal of the authorities for the use of
the wounded), the convent, which is fitted up as a hospital, and the
Victoria Hospital. General Cronje stated, and with some show of reason,
that he could only recognize one hospital, and the women's laager.
However, prior to this, he had sent many shells through the convent,
possibly from its being a two-storied building and naturally a
conspicuous mark. Consequently Victoria Hospital, always the main
hospital, became the only one used throughout the operations. Dr. Haves
was the P.M.O., Miss Hill the matron; and here, on behalf of the
garrison of Mafeking, I must endeavour to convey our feelings of deep
gratitude and admiration for the work done by this lady, the nurses, and
their assistants (the ladies of Mafeking) during the siege. I can
testify personally to their devoted care and attention to patients, and
Britain may well be proud of them. One ninety-four pounder went through
the hospital, wrecking a ward and killing a little native boy. Shells
fell all round it, and bullets were continually hitting it, one, indeed,
wounded an already wounded man, but these ladies continued their work
undisturbed, assisted to the utmost by the sisters from the adjacent
convent, situated some fifty yards away. These poor ladies having had to
abandon their home (which was literally wrecked, and will have to be
entirely rebuilt), had to take refuge in a dug-out by the hospital. The
hospital arrangements and the attention of Dr. Haves, Major Anderson,
and Surgeon Holmden (who was himself sick in the hospital), were beyond
all praise. Fortunately the accommodation was adequate, an additional
building being erected for Kaffirs. But these for the most part
preferred being treated and returning to their own abode. They appear
nearly insensible to pain.
To give a few instances, one native was shot with a Martini bullet
through the lung; he roared with laughter when it was extracted, and
will not part with it for anything, and is now all right. A Zulu
wounded in the toe, on seeing a man's temperature being taken, when
given the thermometer, placed it between his toes, and on being told to
put it in his mouth, said he was not hurt in the mouth, but in the foot.
Another native was shot through the head with a Mauser and lived; so,
indeed, did a railway volunteer, Nelson; the bullet went clean through
his head, and he is well and out of hospital. But the natives, though
suffering from horrible injuries, seem to regard them lightly. Most of
the native wounded are by shells; they are very careless, but I fancy
the numerous casualties are making them more cautious. The unfortunate
man killed yesterday was a man named Footman, of the Protectorate
Regiment, who was in a room singing a song, "Poor old Joe has gone to
rest," to the accompaniment of a banjo, when the shell burst on him, and
literally blew him to pieces--two more men were slightly injured, and a
chaff-cutter knocked to pieces; but the remainder were providentially
untouched. The worst of sniping is that it consumes such a lot of the
ammunition which we may eventually require, though it certainly has a
quietening effect upon the enemy's artillery; but I cannot believe the
Boers will abandon this place without one more serious attack, when they
hear of the advance of our troops, and the remnants of other commandoes
join them. They must have one tangible proof of success. So far, beyond
doubt, the prolonged defence of Mafeking has resulted in the natives
either keeping quiet or rising on our side, whereas had the Boers been
successful in these parts, the natives must have perforce sided with
them, as their emissaries had strained every nerve to induce them to do,
prior to the war. I sincerely trust that the penalties of treason will
be rigidly enforced, and that if not death, at least outlawry and
confiscation will be inflicted on the Colonial Dutch who have risen, for
no man has a right to a vote who has deliberately risen in British
territory and fought against Her Majesty. The Transvaal is another
matter, though they have raided our territory, burnt farms, and looted
cattle and annexed British Bechuanaland--that is a matter for settlement
by the Government and not for individuals to suffer. If the Boers are
well thrashed, and they have fought well, the two nationalities will
soon settle down together. But a Dutchman, or at least the lower
classes (which correspond, after all, to poor whites of America with
this difference, that they have a lot of black blood in them), cannot
understand anything but a good licking. Disarm them rigorously, and
give them a just government and they will soon peacefully acquiesce
therein. But pack the Hollander-cum-German official back to his own
country. South Africa is no place for them. Let them try the South
American Republics; with their venal habits, they will be thoroughly at
home.
A more heterogeneous garrison has seldom been collected. A mounted
corps (the Protectorate Regiment), two detachments of mounted Cape
Police, the B.S.A.P., also mounted, the Bechuanaland Rifles, the Railway
D.W., and the Town Guard, all employed in trenches, and the horses only
used for orderly work. The Town Guard is composed of every white man or
householder, Indian or otherwise, capable of bearing arms, unless
enrolled under the Red Cross. They are formed into companies in their
own districts, and under their own commanders, Colonel Vyvyan being
commander of the whole, and range from boys of sixteen to men of
seventy. The younger boys are employed as messengers. The Town Guard
have been subjected to severe tests, sleeping and living in trenches,
and enduring the hardships of war for two months, without a chance of
returning the enemy's fire. A few individuals who are good shots are
permitted to go out sniping, but the majority have to keep their fire
for short ranges, in case of an assault. They have done their duty
well, and been under fire continually. All sorts and conditions of men
are there, and a more mixed body it would be impossible to conceive. In
any case, they have stood the test well, and surprised myself and indeed
everybody by their efficiency. Of the police of both corps, it is
impossible to say too much--they are as fine a body of men as you could
wish to see, and the work they have done speaks for itself. The
B.S.A.P. have had the more opportunities as a body, but wherever the
Cape Police have had a chance they have done every bit as well. The
Protectorate Regiment I have already described fully, and they also have
proved themselves to be the fine fighting material I thought them from
the first. But when, oh! when, shall we use our horses? The
Bechuanaland Rifles, a fine body of men, largely augmented since the
commencement of the war, had a mounted detachment under Captain Cowell.
The Railway Division under Captain Moore, who has been promoted since
the commencement of the war, are also a fine body of men who can turn
their hand to anything, from fighting in a land ironclad to manning
their own works. The authorities were warned long prior to the outbreak
of hostilities, that more troops were required here. With even two
squadrons of cavalry and half a battery we should have been able to keep
the Boers at a greater distance from the town, and beaten them
occasionally in the open, well away from our lines. Half a battalion of
infantry would have done the garrison work as efficiently as the
dismounted men of our mounted corps. In fact, we might long ago have
raised the siege by a decisive blow, which we have been, under our
present circumstances, unable to deliver. I think I stated this in a
letter some six weeks prior to the outbreak of the war. However, I
presume we shall soon be out of this now, though we have no news, as for
the past fortnight no runners seem able to get through at all.
10th, Sunday. We had mounted sports, polo, and in the evening, church.
Heavy rain threatened, but held off. I watched through a telescope a
party of Dutch ladies being shown Creaky, who was put through her
antics, being elevated, depressed, levelled in various directions, for
their benefit. So, both sides enjoyed themselves after their kind.
General Snyman's harangues and reports of victories (which roughly
surmised are--extirpation of the British army--the only two places in
South Africa held by the British, being Mafeking and Cape
Town--possession of Delagoa Bay, and a fight at sea, where the British
were defeated) are now received in silence and _cum grano_, by his
followers, instead of being greeted with cheers, as formerly. Really, I
begin to believe there is a limit to the credulity of the Boer, though
hitherto I had supposed it boundless. But what can equal their colossal
impudence, in invading the suzerain power, annexing Bechuanaland, and
proclaiming us rebels. Colonel Baden-Powell has recently organized a
troop of old cavalry soldiers, and armed them with lances. They have
to-day ridden all round the town, showing themselves in all quarters, to
the great astonishment of the Boers, who, I suppose, now expect another
little surprise packet, and will be anxious for a few days; as they knew
we had no lances with us.
11th, Monday. Colonel Baden-Powell has issued a proclamation calling
upon all burghers to return to their farms by the 14th, and that if they
do so, and surrendered their rifles and one hundred and fifty rounds of
ammunition, they will not be molested, otherwise, they will be treated
most rigorously, when we take the offensive; that they are being grossly
misled by their leaders; that foreign intervention is hopeless. The
Staats Artillery may surrender as prisoners of war at any time; this
does not apply to British subjects, traitors or deserters. This might
have produced an increase of shell fire, I should fancy, judging from
our heavy days' shelling last week. Their General rode forth with his
escort, our snipers placed three volleys round him, whereupon he
galloped back to the big gun, and all the artillery began merrily,
trying to hit our headquarters. They fired a few shells this morning,
but the heavy rain seriously damped their ardour. Still, if the General
be annoyed, they will probably re-commence their attentions. Later.
The orderlies with the various flags of truce, have returned,
proclamations were sent to each of their outworks, and all the Dutchmen
volunteered that they were quite sick of it, and had had enough, which I
can quite believe. The rains are beginning, they complained of the
soakings they have already had, and with inadequate cover sickness will
soon play havoc with them. The orderlies gave them cigarettes and
conversed with them, and in two or three cases they asked them how they
came to let the re-inforcements in, referring to the lancer troop. In
one case the Dutchman said he had heard them come in, but did not know
what it was, in the other cases they said they had not seen the
re-inforcements, but they had seen their spoor. Shelling has
recommenced. To-night we send up fire balloons, weather permitting,
which will probably produce some effect on their side.
The following is a copy of Colonel Baden-Powell's letter to Snyman and
the proclamation to the burghers:--