About Twelve Thousand Surrendered In
The Transvaal, Six Thousand In The Orange River Colony, And About
Two Thousand In The Cape Colony, Showing That The Movement In The
Rebel Districts Had Always Been More Vexatious Than Formidable.
A
computation of the prisoners of war, the surrenders, the
mercenaries, and the casualties, shows that the total forces to
which we were opposed were certainly not fewer than seventy-five
thousand well-armed mounted men, while they may have considerably
exceeded that number.
No wonder that the Boer leaders showed great
confidence at the outset of the war.
That the heavy losses caused us by the war were borne without a
murmur is surely evidence enough how deep was the conviction of the
nation that the war was not only just but essential - that the
possession of South Africa and the unity of the Empire were at
stake. Could it be shown, or were it even remotely possible, that
ministers had incurred so immense a responsibility and entailed
such tremendous sacrifices upon their people without adequate
cause, is it not certain that, the task once done, an explosion of
rage from the deceived and the bereaved would have driven them for
ever from public life? Among high and low, in England, in Scotland,
in Ireland, in the great Colonies, how many high hopes had been
crushed, how often the soldier son had gone forth and never
returned, or come back maimed and stricken in the pride of his
youth. Everywhere was the voice of pity and sorrow, but nowhere
that of reproach. The deepest instincts of the nation told it that
it must fight and win, or for ever abdicate its position in the
world. Through dark days which brought out the virtues of our race
as nothing has done in our generation, we struggled grimly on until
the light had fully broken once again. And of all gifts that God
has given to Britain there is none to compare with those days of
sorrow, for it was in them that the nation was assured of its
unity, and learned for all time that blood is stronger to bind than
salt water is to part. The only difference in the point of view of
the Briton from Britain and the Briton from the ends of the earth,
was that the latter with the energy of youth was more whole-souled
in the Imperial cause. Who has seen that Army and can forget
it - its spirit, its picturesqueness - above all, what it stands for
in the future history of the world? Cowboys from the vast plains of
the North-West, gentlemen who ride hard with the Quorn or the
Belvoir, gillies from the Sutherland deer-forests, bushmen from the
back blocks of Australia, exquisites of the Raleigh Club or the
Bachelor's, hard men from Ontario, dandy sportsmen from India and
Ceylon, the horsemen of New Zealand, the wiry South African
irregulars - these are the Reserves whose existence was chronicled
in no Blue-book, and whose appearance came as a shock to the pedant
soldiers of the Continent who had sneered so long at our little
Army, since long years of peace have caused them to forget its
exploits. On the plains of South Africa, in common danger and in
common privation, the blood brotherhood of the Empire was sealed.
So much for the Empire. But what of South Africa? There in the end
we must reap as we sow. If we are worthy of the trust, it will be
left to us. If we are unworthy of it, it will be taken away.
Kruger's downfall should teach us that it is not rifles but Justice
which is the title-deed of a nation. The British flag under our
best administrators will mean clean government, honest laws,
liberty and equality to all men. So long as it continues to do so,
we shall hold South Africa. When, out of fear or out or greed, we
fall from that ideal, we may know that we are stricken with that
disease which has killed every great empire before us.
*** END OF THE GREAT BOER WAR, by Arthur Conan Doyle ***
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