SOUTH AFRICA. 



615 



lecting the women and children, who were quar- 

 tered at Vryburg and other centers. Not merely 

 to mount his own men, but also to keep the 

 Boers from getting remounts, Lord Kitchener req- 

 uisitioned all the horses that could anywhere 

 be found, obtaining in January 13,000 horses and 

 4,000 mules. From abroad 30,000 fresh horses 

 were landed, in addition to 100,000 having been 

 received during 1900. On Feb. 1 a body of 1,400 

 with a gun captured the British post at Modder- 

 fontein, near Krugersdorp. Gen. French's mobile 

 columns achieved pronounced successes, driving 

 Gen. Botha's force of 7,000 Boers back from 

 Bethel toward Swaziland. The British Govern- 

 ment responded to new demands for reenforce- 

 ments by raising an additional force of 10,000 

 imperial yeomanry and 20,000 other mounted 

 troops. In Cape Colony the British forces were 

 strong and active enough in the beginning of 

 February to keep the Boer commandoes in check. 

 The Cape Colonists were overawed, though vexed, 

 by the military measures taken to prevent a 

 rising, such as the search for arms, the com- 

 mandeering of goods, the wholesale arrests of sus- 

 pected Boer sympathizers, the depredations of the 

 soldiers, and an order as inconvenient for British 

 as for Dutch farmers that all horses, even those 

 not fit for cavalry mounts, be given up to the 

 military authorities. 



When De Wet was endeavoring to take a large 

 force into Cape Colony by one of the eastern 

 drifts and was headed off, the British forces that 

 were guarding the approaches to the Orange river 

 were called off to pursue him in his retreat to the 

 north. A detached part of his force slipped round 

 the British columns and crossed at Odendaal drift 

 on Dec. 16. This was Kritzinger's commando, 

 700 strong, and on the same day Hertzog crossed 

 at Zand drift with 1,200 men. Caught between 

 these posts and Gen. Knox's, Gen. Bruce Hamil- 

 ton's, Gen. Maxwell's, and 4 other columns in the 

 rear, he made a wonderful march from the east 

 to the west of the Orange River Colony, and at 

 last he slipped through the cordon and entered 

 Cape Colony. When almost surrounded by the 7 

 British columns, De Wet had once more baffled 

 his pursuers by turning westward and breaking 

 down the resistance of Major Crewe's weak col- 

 umn, which attempted to defend a road through 

 the hills. In crossing the railroad he captured 

 supplies on the trains at Springfontein. After 

 making feints at Rouxville and other drifts, he 

 crossed the Orange river near Zand drift on Feb. 

 13. Gen. Cunningham operated against Com- 

 mandant Delarey, who with 2,000 men was mov- 

 ing about north and west of the Rand. Two or 

 three times a small Boer force appeared at the 

 outlying mines and did some damage to the plant. 



When De Wet invaded Cape Colony the defen- 

 sive preparations of Gen. Brabant, who had 

 charge not only of military operations but of the 

 administration of martial law, were well devel- 

 oped. If any member of a colonial family joined 

 the enemy the whole family was declared to be 

 beyond the law, and colonists could claim no com- 

 pensation for losses unless they actively resisted 

 the invaders. Every farmer of the border dis- 

 tricts was expected to enroll himself in the colo- 

 nial force, either for general service or for the 

 defense of his particular district. 



On entering Cape Colony President Steyn and 

 Commandant De Wet issued a proclamation de- 

 claring that the republics were not yet conquered 

 nor the war finished; that the burgher forces, 

 which Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener had 

 called marauding bands, were led by responsible 

 leaders under the supervision of the governments 



of both republics, and a part of Uiese forces had 

 invaded Cape Colony lo \\a^c \\;u aid to be 

 in position to make reprisals by dest.n ying the 

 property of British subjects \\ho were 1 ostile to 

 the Boers, though not to molest \VOMK-M and chil- 

 dren, if the British continued their <!. -u ictj<,n of 

 property in the republics and their ! ; >r!)arouH 

 manner of warfare, such as the ill-treatment of 

 the wives of burghers and the destruction <,i l,ii,-ir 

 homes from sheer lust of destruction, the ; 

 and insulting treatment of women and children, 

 causing the deaths of many who were torn from 

 sick-beds, the outraging of women, the robbing 

 of prisoners of war, the murder of burghers, the 

 capture of doctors and ambulances, the sending 

 out of patrols to plunder, burn, and damage the 

 burghers' private property, the arming of Kaffirs 

 and natives to make use of them in the war 

 against the burghers, and the burning of farms, 

 nearly all the houses in the two republics having 

 already been destroyed, whether near railroads or 

 not, on the pretext of Lord Roberts's order for 

 such destruction in retaliation for the blowing 

 up of railroad-tracks or the misuse of white flags 

 calumniously attributed to Boers. 



The columns which were in pursuit of De Wet, 

 when it was seen that they could not prevent his 

 crossing the Orange ' river, were called back and 

 sent by railroad ahead of him into Cape Colony. 

 His force was opposed by Col. Plumer's column 

 and forced to retire from Philipstown. Hertzog's 

 commando, which had been operating in the west- 

 ern part of Cape Colony, was checked not far 

 from Cape Town by local levies and irregular 

 troops and threatened on the flank by troops 

 sent by rail. After holding Calvinia and other 

 towns for a week the invaders retired to the 

 north. Kritzinger still held the whole country 

 about Murraysburg. Scheepers's commando in the 

 east had fallen back toward Beaufort West. De- 

 tached bodies of Boers were wandering at will 

 through the mountainous and thinly peopled 

 parts of Cape Colony. The force that had crossed 

 with De Wet numbered over 2,000, but the men 

 were exhausted and badly equipped. Col.Crabbe's 

 column took away a good part of the convoy 

 near Hout Kraal. Gen. Knox and Gen. Bruce 

 Hamilton crossed the Orange river after De Wet, 

 who turned to the northeast, pursued by Col. 

 Plumer's Bushmen, was defeated with a loss of 

 guns, ammunition, and prisoners at Disselfontein. 

 Other columns converged and De Wet was" obliged 

 to abandon all the captured horses, his guns, and 

 most of his convoy, and only escaped capture by 

 doubling several times. Hertzog's force, moving 

 northward, endeavored to join him and bring 

 fresh horses, and Kritzinger evacuated Murrays- 

 burg for the same purpose. Half of De Wet's 

 force had melted away before Hertzog came up, 

 which brought the number up to 2,000 again, but 

 the British c6ncentration compelled them to re- 

 cross into the Orange River Colony as soon as 

 the river, swollen by rains, became passable. 

 De Wet tried several drifts before he crossed on 

 Feb. 28 at Lilliefontein. 



Lord Methuen's force cleared the country from 

 the Bechuanaland border eastward to Klerksdorp, 

 drove the commando of De Villiers out of Wol- 

 maranstad, and defeated 1,500 Boers at Hartbeest- 

 fontein with a loss of 49 killed and wounded. 

 Gen. French was successful in his operations 

 against Botha's force, which retreated before him 

 in scattered, disorganized parties to the number 

 of 5,000, losing in successive actions 282 killed and 

 wounded, 56 prisoners, 3 guns, and a great part 

 of the horses, cattle, and ammunition, while the 

 British losses were 158 in killed and wounded. 



