PRETORIA AND JOHANNESBURG UNDER LORD ROBERTS AND MILITARY LAW
"With malice to none ... with firmness in the right, as
God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are
in."--ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
At Pretoria Mrs. Godley and I found accommodation, not without some
difficulty, at the Grand Hotel. Turned for the moment into a sort of
huge barrack, this was crowded to its utmost capacity. The polite
manager, in his endeavour to find us suitable rooms, conducted us all
over the spacious building, and at last, struck by a bright thought,
threw open the door of an apartment which he said would be free in a few
hours, as the gentleman occupying it was packing up his belongings
preparatory to his departure. Great was my surprise at discovering in
the khaki-clad figure, thus unceremoniously disturbed in the occupation
of stowing away papers, clothes, and campaigning kit generally, no less
a personage than my nephew, Winston Churchill, who had experienced such
thrilling adventures during the war, the accounts of which had reached
us even in far-away Mafeking. The proprietor was equally amazed to see
me warmly greet the owner of the rooms he proposed to allot us, and,
although Winston postponed his departure for another twenty-four hours,
he gladly gave up part of his suite for our use, and everything was
satisfactorily arranged.
Good-looking figures in khaki swarmed all over the hotel, and friends
turned up every minute--bearded pards, at whom one had to look twice
before recognizing old acquaintances. No less than a hundred officers
were dining that night in the large restaurant. Between the newly
liberated prisoners and those who had taken part in the victorious march
of Lord Roberts's army one heard surprised greetings such as these:
"Hallo, old chap! where were you caught?" or a late-comer would arrive
with the remark: "There has been firing along the outposts all day. I
suppose the beggars have come back." (I was relieved to hear the
outposts were twelve miles out.) The whole scene was like an act in a
Drury Lane drama, and we strangers seemed to be the appreciative
audience. Accustomed as we were to a very limited circle, it appeared to
us as if all the inhabitants of England had been transported to
Pretoria.
Early next day we drove out to see the departure of General
Baden-Powell[36] and his Staff, who had been most warmly received by
Lord Roberts, and who, after receiving his orders, were leaving to
rejoin their men at Rustenburg. As an additional mark of favour, the
Commander-in-Chief and his retinue gave the defender of Mafeking a
special send-off, riding with him and his officers some distance out of
the town. This procession was quite an imposing sight, and was preceded
by a company of turbaned Indians. Presently, riding alongside of General
Baden-Powell, on a small, well-bred Arab, came the hero of a thousand
fights, the man who at an advanced age, and already crowned with so many
laurels, had, in spite of a crushing bereavement, stepped forward to
help his country in the hour of need. We were delighted when this man of
the moment stopped to speak to us. He certainly seemed surprised at the
apparition of two ladies, and observed that we were very daring, and the
first of our sex to come in. I shall, however, never forget how kindly
he spoke nor the inexpressible sadness of his face. I told him how quiet
everything appeared to be along the road we had taken, and how civil
were all the Boers we had met. At this he turned to the guest whose
departure he was speeding, and said, with a grave smile, "That is
thanks to you, General." And then the cortege rode on. On reflection, I
decided, rather from what Lord Roberts had left unsaid than from his
actual words, that if we had asked leave to travel home via Pretoria, it
would have been refused.
The rest of that day and the next we spent in seeing the town under its
new auspices, and it certainly presented far more to interest a visitor
than on the occasion of my last visit in 1896. In a suburb known as
Sunny Side was situated Lord Roberts's headquarters, at a house known as
the Residency. Close by was a charming villa inhabited for the nonce by
General Brabazon, Lord Dudley, Mr. John Ward, and Captain W. Bagot. The
surroundings of these dwellings were exceedingly pretty, with shady
trees, many streams, and a background of high hills crowned by forts,
which latter were just visible to the naked eye. From Sunny Side we were
conducted over some of these fortifications: there was Schantz's Kop
Fort, of very recent construction, and looking to the uninitiated of
tremendous strength, with roomy bomb-proof shelters. Here a corner of
one of the massive entrance pillars had been sharply severed off by a
British lyddite shell. Later we inspected Kapper Kop Fort, the highest
of all, where two British howitzer guns, firing a 280-pound shell, had
found a resting-place. Surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge, the view
from this fort was magnificent. The Boers were in the act of making a
double-wire entanglement round it, and had evidently meant to offer
there a stubborn resistance, when more prudent counsels prevailed, and
they had left their work half finished, and decamped, carrying off all
their ammunition. In the town itself General French and his Staff had
established themselves at the Netherlands Club, from which resort the
members had been politely ejected.
To outward appearances, civil as well as military business was being
transacted in Pretoria with perfect smoothness, in spite of the
proximity of the enemy. The yeomanry were acting as police both there
and in Johannesburg. The gaol, of which we had a glimpse, was crowded
with 240 prisoners, but was under the competent direction of the usual
English under-official, who had been in the service of the Transvaal,
and who had quietly stepped into the shoes of his chief, a Dutchman,
when the latter bolted with Kruger. This prison was where the Raiders
and the Reformers had been in durance vile, and the gallows were pointed
out to us with the remark that, during the last ten years, they had only
been once used, their victim being an Englishman. A Dutchman, who had
been condemned to death during the same period for killing his wife, had
been reprieved.
In the same way the Natal Bank and the Transvaal National Bank were
being supervised by their permanent officials, men who had been at their
posts during the war, and who, although under some suspicions, had not
been removed. At the latter bank the manager told us how President
Kruger had sent his Attorney-General to fetch the gold in coins and bar
just before he left for Delagoa Bay, and how it was taken away on a
trolley. The astute President actually cheated his people of this
bullion, as he had already forced them to accept paper tokens for the
gold, which he then acquired and removed. We also saw the Raad
Saals--especially interesting from being exactly as they were left after
the last session on May 7--Kruger's private room, and the Council
Chamber. These latter were fine apartments, recently upholstered by
Maple, and littered with papers, showing every evidence of the hurried
departure of their occupants. Finally, specially conducted by Winston,
we inspected the so-called "Bird-cage," where all the English officers
had been imprisoned, and the "Staat Model" School, from where our
cicerone had made his escape. These quarters must have been a
particularly disagreeable and inadequate residence.
After a day in Pretoria we realized that, in spite of the shops being
open and the hotels doing a roaring trade, notwithstanding the
marvellous organization visible on all sides, events were not
altogether satisfactory; and one noted that the faces of those behind
the scenes were grave and serious. Louis Botha, it was evident, was
anything but a defeated foe. This gentleman had actually been in the
capital when the English entered, and he was then only sixteen miles
away. During the previous week a severe action had been fought with him
at Diamond Hill, where the English casualties had been very heavy. The
accounts of this engagement, as then related, had a touch of
originality. The Commander-in-Chief and Staff went out in a special
train, sending their horses by road, which reminded one forcibly of a
day's hunting; cab-drivers in the town asked pedestrians if they would
like to drive out and see the fight. The real affair, however, was grim
earnest, and many were the gallant men who lost their lives on that
occasion. All the while De Wet was enjoying himself to the south by
constantly interrupting the traffic on the railway. No wonder the
Generals were careworn, and it was a relief to meet Lord Stanley,[37]
A.D.C. to Lord Roberts, with a smiling face, who, with his unfailing
spirits, must have been an invaluable companion to his chief during
those trying weeks. One specially sad feature was the enormous number of
sick in addition to wounded soldiers.
Of the former, at that time, there were over 1,500, and the
recollection of the large numbers buried at Bloemfontein was still green
in everyone's memory. The origin of all the sickness, principally
enteric, was undoubtedly due to the Paardeberg water in the first
instance, and then to that used at Bloemfontein; for Pretoria was
perfectly healthy--the climate cool, if rainy, and the water-supply
everything that could be desired. As additional accommodation for these
patients, the magnificent and recently finished Law Courts had been
arranged to hold seven or eight hundred beds. Superintended by Sir
William Thompson, this improvised establishment was attended to by the
personnel of the Irish hospital, and Mr. Guinness was there himself,
organizing their work and doing excellent service.
One evening we were most hospitably entertained to dinner by Lord
Stanley, Captain Fortescue, the Duke of Westminster, and Winston. As it
may be imagined, we heard many interesting details of the past stages of
the war. Winston, even at that early stage of his career, and although
he had been but a short time, comparatively, with Lord Roberts's force,
had contrived therein to acquire influence and authority. The "bosses,"
doubtless, disapproved of his free utterances, but he was nevertheless
most amusing to listen to, and a general favourite. The next day we saw
him and the Duke of Westminster off on their way South, and having
fixed my own departure for the following Monday, and seen most of the
sights, I determined to avail myself of an invitation Captain Laycock,
A.D.C. to General French, had given me, and go to the Netherlands Club
in order to peruse the goodly supply of newspapers and periodicals of
which they were the proud possessors. It was a cold, windy afternoon,
and, finding the front-door locked and no bell visible, I went to one of
the long French windows at the side of the house, through which I could
see a cozy fire glimmering. Perceiving a gentleman sitting in front of
the inviting blaze, I knocked sharply to gain admittance. On nearer
inspection this gentleman proved to be asleep, and it was some minutes
before he got up and revealed himself as a middle-aged man, strongly
built, with slightly grey hair. For some unknown reason I imagined him
to be a Major in a cavalry regiment, no doubt attached to the Staff, and
when, after rubbing his eyes, he at length opened the window, I
apologized perfunctorily for having disturbed him, adding that I was
acting on Captain Laycock's suggestion in coming there. In my heart I
hoped he would leave me to the undisturbed perusal of the literature
which I saw on a large centre table. He showed, however, no signs of
taking his departure, and made himself so agreeable that I was perforce
obliged to continue the conversation he commenced. I told him of the
Mafeking siege, giving him my opinion of the Boers as opponents and of
their peculiarities as we had experienced them; also of how, in the west
and north, the enemy seemed to have practically disappeared. Presently,
by way of politeness, I asked him in what part of the country, and under
which General, he had been fighting. He answered evasively that he had
been knocking about, under several commanders, pretty well all over the
place, which reply left me more mystified than ever. Soon Captain
Laycock came in, and after a little more talk, during which I could see
that he and my new acquaintance were on the best of terms, the latter
went out, expressing a hope I should stay to tea, which I thought
exceedingly kind of him, but scarcely necessary, as I was Captain
Laycock's guest. When he had gone, I questioned the latter as to the
identity of his friend, and was horrified to learn that it was General
French himself whom I had so unceremoniously disturbed, and to whom I
had volunteered information. When the General returned with some more of
his Staff, including Lord Brooke, Colonel Douglas Haig,[38] Mr. Brinsley
Fitzgerald, and Mr. Brinton, 2nd Life Guards,[39] I was profuse in my
apologies, which he promptly cut short by asking me to make the tea, and
we had a most cheery meal, interspersed with a good deal of chaff, one
of his friends remarking to me that it was probably the only occasion
during the last six months in South Africa that General French had been
caught asleep.
The following day, Sunday, we attended a very impressive military
service, at which Lord Roberts and his Staff, in full uniform, were
present, and at the conclusion the whole congregation sang the National
Anthem with the organ accompaniment. The volume of sound, together with
the well-loved tune, was one not soon to be forgotten.
In the evening I had a visit from a stranger, who announced himself to
be Mr. Barnes, correspondent to the _Daily Mail_. This gentleman handed
me a letter from my sister, Lady Georgiana Curzon, dated Christmas Day
of the previous year, which had at last reached me under peculiar
circumstances. It appeared that, when my resourceful sister heard I had
been taken prisoner by the Boers, she decided the best way of
communicating with me would be through the President of the South
African Republic, via Delagoa Bay. She had therefore written him a
letter as follows:
"_Christmas Day, 1899._
"Lady Georgiana Curzon presents her compliments to His Honour
President Kruger, and would be very much obliged if he would
give orders that the enclosed letter should be forwarded to
her sister, Lady Sarah Wilson, who, according to the latest
reports, has been taken prisoner by General Snyman."
In this letter was enclosed the one now handed to me by Mr. Barnes. The
President, in the novel experience of receiving a letter from an English
lady, had sent for the American Consul, and had handed him both epistles
without a remark of any kind, beyond asking him to deal with them. Thus
the missive finally reached its destination. This visitor had hardly
departed when another was announced in the person of a Dr. Scholtz,
whom, with his wife, I had met at Groot Schuurr as Mr. Rhodes's friends.
This gentleman, who is since dead, had always seemed to me somewhat of
an enigmatical personage. German by origin, he combined strong
sympathies with the Boers and fervent Imperialism, and I was therefore
always a little doubtful as to his real sentiments. He came very kindly
on this occasion to pay a friendly call, but also to inform me that he
was playing a prominent part in the abortive peace negotiations which at
that stage of the war were being freely talked about. Whether he had
acted on his own initiative, or whether he had actually been employed by
the authorities, he did not state; but he seemed to be full of
importance, and proud of the fact that he had spent two hours only a few
days before on a kopje in conference with Louis Botha, while the same
kopje was being energetically shelled by the English. He gave me,
indeed, to understand that the successful issue of the interview had
depended entirely on the amount the English Government was prepared to
pay, and that another £2,000,000 would have ended the war then and
there. He probably did not enjoy the full confidence of either side, and
I never verified the truth of his statements, which were as strange and
mysterious as the man himself, whom, as events turned out, I never saw
again.
It had been difficult to reach Pretoria, but the departure therefrom was
attended by many formalities, and I had to provide myself, amongst other
permits, with a railway pass, which ran as follows:
RAILWAY PASSES.
The bearer, Lady Sarah. Wilson (and maid) is permitted to
travel at her own expense from Pretoria to Cape Town via the
Vaal River.
O.S. NUGENT,
Major, Provost Marshal
(For Major-General, Military
Governor of Pretoria).
To R.S.O.
Pretoria
_June 25, 1900._
Everything being then pronounced in order, I said good-bye to Mrs.
Godley, who was returning by road to Zeerust and Mafeking, and,
accompanied by Captain Seymour Fortescue, who had a few days' leave, and
by Major Bobby White, I left on June 25 for Johannesburg. The train was
painfully slow, and rarely attained a speed of more than five or six
miles an hour. At Elandsfontein the engine gave out entirely, and a long
delay ensued while another was being procured. At all the stations were
small camps and pickets of bronzed and bearded soldiers, and on the
platforms could be seen many officers newly arrived from England,
distinguished by their brand-new uniforms, nearly all carrying the
inevitable Kodak. At length we arrived at Johannesburg as the daylight
was fading, and found excellent accommodation at Heath's Hotel. In the
"Golden City," as at Pretoria, the shops were open, and seemed
wonderfully well supplied, butter and cigarettes being the only items
that were lacking. I remember lunching the next day at a grill-room,
called Frascati's, underground, where the cuisine was first-rate, and
which was crowded with civilians of many nationalities, soldiers not
being in such prominence as at Pretoria. The afternoon we devoted to
seeing some of the principal mines, including the Ferreira Deep, which
had been worked by the Transvaal Government for the last eight months.
For this purpose they had engaged capable managers from France and
Germany, and therefore the machinery was in no way damaged. At a
dinner-party the same evening, given by Mr. A. Goldmann, we met a German
gentleman who gave an amusing account of the way in which some of the
city financiers had dashed off to the small banks a few days before Lord
Roberts's entry, when the report was rife that Kruger was going to
seize all the gold at Johannesburg as well as that at Pretoria. They
were soon seen emerging with bags of sovereigns on their backs, which
they first carried to the National Bank, but which, on second thoughts,
they reclaimed again, finally confiding their treasure to the Banque de
la France.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Colonel Baden-Powell had been promoted to the rank of
Major-General.
[37] Now Earl of Derby.
[38] Now Major-General Haig.
[39] Now Major Brinton.