Mafeking, 8th Dec., 1899.
To General J. P. Snyman,
near Mafeking.
SIR,--I beg to thank you for having handed over Lady Sarah Wilson in
exchange for the convict P. Viljoen.
At the same time, I beg to point out that I have only consented to the
exchange under protest, as being contrary to the custom of civilised
warfare.
In treating this lady as a prisoner of war, as well as in various other
acts, you have in the present campaign, altered the usual conditions of
war. This is a very serious matter; and I do not know whether it has
the sanction of General Joubert or not, but I warn you of the
consequences.
The war was at first, and would remain, as far as Her Majesty's troops
are concerned, a war between one Government and another; but you are
making it one of people against people in which women are considered as
belligerents. I warn you that the consequence of this may shortly be
very serious to your own people, and you yourself will be to blame for
anything that may happen.
Regarding your complaint as to your being attacked by Natives, I beg to
refer you to my letter dated 14th November, addressed to your
predecessor General Cronje. In this letter I went out of my way, as one
white man to another, to warn you that the Natives are becoming
extremely incensed at your stealing their cattle, and the wanton burning
of their Kraals; they argued that the war lay only between our two
Nations, and that the quarrel had nothing to do with themselves, and
they had remained neutral in consequence, excepting in the case of the
Mafeking Baralongs, who had to defend their homes in consequence of your
unjustifiable invasion. Nevertheless you thought fit to carry on cattle
thefts and raids against them, and you are now beginning to feel the
consequences; and, as I told you, I could not be responsible. And I
fear from what I have just heard by wireless telegraph that the Natives
are contemplating further operations should your Forces continue to
remain within or on the borders of their territories. Before the
commencement of the war the High Commissioner issued stringent orders to
all Natives that they were to remain quiet and not to take up Arms
unless their territory were invaded (in which case, of course, they had
a perfect right to defend themselves).
Linchwe--of whom you complain--remained neutral until you brought a
force into his principal town and looted his traders' stores, and were
making preparations for shelling his stadt on the 26th ultimo. Having
obtained accurate information of these intentions of yours, and warned
by what had happened to the Natives near Mafeking, he attacked your
laager on the 24th in order to save his town from being shelled and
consequent loss of life amongst his women and children. In this I
consider he was quite justified, and you have no one but yourself to
blame in the matter.
While on the subject of Natives please do not suppose that I am ignorant
of what you have been doing with regard to seeking the assistance of
armed natives, nor of the use of the Natives by you in the destruction
of the railway line south of Mafeking. However, having done my duty in
briefly giving you warning on these points, I do not propose to further
discuss them by letter.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
R.S.S. BADEN-POWELL.