The Oath of Neutrality
Arriving at Rhenosterpoort, I found there Commandant F. Van Aard, with
his commando. He told me that after I had left the laager, the burghers
had not been troubled again by the English. He had gone on to Waterberg,
and after having stayed there for a short time, he had returned to the
laager. He still had some of his waggons with him, but in many cases the
oxen had been so exhausted that the waggons had to be left behind, the
burghers returning on horseback, or even on foot. He also told me that
Vice-Commander-in-Chief Steenekamp had, just before my arrival, crossed
the line in the direction of Heilbron, in which district there were then
no English.
Generals Fourie and Froneman, with Hertzog, were also at Rhenosterpoort,
having left their commandos behind, in the district of Winburg.
They had much to tell me which I had heard already, but which I now
obtained at first hand. It appeared that the burghers who had been taken
prisoner with General Prinsloo had been sent to Ceylon, notwithstanding
the promise that had been given them that their property would be safe,
and that they would be allowed to return to their farms.
It was now that I conceived the great plan of bringing under arms all
the burghers who had laid down their weapons, and taken the oath of
neutrality, and of sending them to operate in every part of the State.
To this end I went with these officers to the other side of the railway
line, in order to meet General Philip Botha in the country to the
south-east of Heilbron, and also, if possible, General Hattingh, who was
in command of the Harrismith and Vrede burghers.
We succeeded in crossing the railway between Roodewal and Serfontein
siding, but not without fighting. Before we came to the railway line the
English opened a cross fire on us from the north-east, from the
direction of Roodewal; and almost directly afterwards another party
fired on us from the south. We succeeded, however, in getting through
with the waggons which Commandant Van Aard had with him, but we lost one
man killed, and three wounded.
On the following day I gave Commandant Van Aard the order to go to his
district (Midden Valsch River) in order to give his burghers an
opportunity of getting their clothes washed, and of obtaining fresh
horses, if any were to be had. For although the enemy already had begun
to burn down our houses, and to carry away our horses, things had not as
yet reached such a pitch that the columns spared nothing that came in
their way.
Commandant Van Aard started off on his errand, but alas! a few days
afterwards I heard that he--one of the most popular of all our
officers--had been killed in a fight near his own farm between Kroonstad
and Lindley. He was buried there, where he had fallen, on his own land.
And now began the great work which I had proposed to accomplish.
I gave instructions to Vice-Commander-in-Chief Piet Fourie to take under
his charge the districts of Bloemfontein, Bethulie, Smithfield,
Rouxville, and Wepener, and to permit the burghers there, who had
remained behind, to join us again. He was not, however, to compel
anybody to do so, because I was of opinion that a coerced burgher would
be of no real value to us, and would besides be untrustworthy. The
following officers were to serve under Fourie: Andrias, Van Tonder and
Kritzinger. The last-named had been appointed in the place of
Commandant Olivier, who had been taken prisoner at Winburg.[70]
I had appointed Judge Hertzog as a second Vice-Commander-in-Chief, to
carry out the same work in the districts of Fauresmith, Philippolis and
Jacobsdal. He had under him Commandant Hendrik Pretorius (of Jacobsdal)
and Commandant Visser. The latter was the man who, when the burghers
from Fauresmith, even before the taking of Bloemfontein, had remained
behind, broke through with seventy or eighty troops. He had always
behaved faithfully and valiantly until, in an engagement at
Jagersfontein, he gave up his life, a sacrifice for the rights of his
nation. His name will ever be held in honour by his people.
These two Vice-Commanders-in-Chief had no easy task to perform. In fact,
as every one will admit, it was a giant's burden that I had laid upon
their shoulders. To lighten it a little I made the following
arrangement: I sent Captain Pretorius, with a small detachment, in
advance of General Fourie, to prepare the road for him, and Captain
Scheepers to do the same for Judge Hertzog. The first had to say: "Hold
yourselves in readiness! Oom Pieter![71] is coming." The other had to
say: "Be prepared! The Rechter[72] is at hand!"
All went well. General Fourie set to his task at once and did excellent
work. He had not been long in his division before he had collected seven
hundred and fifty men, and had had several skirmishes with the enemy. It
was on account of his acting so vigorously that the English again put
garrisons into some of the south-eastern townships, such as Dewetsdorp,
Wepener, and others.
With General Hertzog things went even better. He had soon twelve hundred
men under arms. General Fourie had not succeeded in getting together an
equally large force in his division, because many burghers from these
districts had been taken prisoner at the time of the surrender of
Prinsloo. General Hertzog also fought more than one battle at
Jagersfontein and Fauresmith.
I ought to add that after I had crossed the Magaliesberg I had sent
Veldtcornet C.C. Badenhorst, with twenty-seven men, on a similar errand
to the districts of Boshof and Hoopstad. I promoted him to the rank of
commandant, and he soon had a thousand troops under him, so that he was
able to engage the enemy on several occasions. He had not been long
occupied in this way, before I appointed him Vice-Commander-in-Chief.
The reader who has followed me throughout this narrative, may very
naturally ask here how it could be justifiable for nearly three thousand
burghers thus to take up arms again, and break their oath of neutrality?
I will answer this question by another--who first broke the terms of
this oath?--the burghers or the English military authorities? The
military authorities without any doubt; what other answer can one give?
Lord Roberts had issued a proclamation saying that, if the burghers took
an oath of neutrality, and remained quietly on their farms, he would
give them protection for their persons and property. But what happened?
He himself ordered them to report to the British military authorities,
should any Boer scout or commandos come to their farms, and threatened
them with punishment if they did not do so. Old people also who had
never stirred one step from their farms were fined hundreds of pounds
when the railway or telegraph lines in their neighbourhood were wrecked.
Besides, instead of protection being given to the burghers, their cattle
were taken from them by the military, at prices they would never have
thought of accepting, and often by force. Yes; and from widows, who had
not even sons on commando, everything was taken away. If then the
English, on their part, had broken the contract, were not the burghers
perfectly justified in considering themselves no longer bound by the
conditions which the oath laid on them?
And then if one goes further into the matter, and remembers that the
English had been employing such people as the National Scouts, and had
thus been arming men who had taken the oath of neutrality, how can one
think that the Boer was still under the obligation of keeping his oath?
There is also the obligation which every one is under to his own
Government; for what Government could ever acknowledge an oath which
their citizens had no right to take?
No! taking everything into consideration, no right-minded burgher could
have acted otherwise than to take his weapons up again, not only in
order to be faithful to his duty as a citizen, but also in order not to
be branded as a coward, as a man who in the future could never again
look any one in the face.
I arranged various matters at Doornspruit, in the district of Kroonstad,
on the 23rd of September, 1900, and then went from there in the
direction of Rietfontein, in order to meet the commando which I had
ordered to be at Heilbron on the 25th.
[Footnote 70: Commandant Van Tender had been made prisoner at the same
time, but he eluded the vigilance of his captors, and running for his
life under a shower of their bullets, got away in safety.]
[Footnote 71: Uncle Peter.]
[Footnote 72: Judge.]