290 Among Men and Horses. 



of the Transvaal, who was beloved by the Boers and was in 

 thorough touch with them. His successor, in 1879, Sir Owen 

 Lanyon, was a man void of tact, and had no sympathy with 

 the people over whom he was placed. He, either ignorantly 

 or culpably, misrepresented to his Government that the Trans- 

 vaalers desired English rule. It is probable that but for his 

 evil influence, our heavy loss in life and honour would not 

 have been incurred. 



Had Mr Gladstone not made peace at the time he did, 

 it is all but certain that General Roberts with his 10,000 

 men, would have come up and beaten the farmers' army. 

 ' Then,' say the Conservatives, ' we could have made peace 

 with honour, and given back with a brave show of generosity, 

 the country we had unjustly seized.' But we must remember 

 that it takes two to make peace as well as war. The sym- 

 pathies of the Boers in the Orange Free State and those in 

 Cape Colony — hardy, resolute fellows and incomparable rifle- 

 men — were becoming stronger every day in favour of their 

 Transvaal countrymen, whom they certainly would have 

 joined in many thousands, had General Joubert's army been 

 sorely pressed. It is doubtful if General Roberts, brave 

 soldier and brilliant leader as he is, could have reduced the 

 Transvaal to subjection with only the troops he had brought 

 along with him. Probably 10,000 more would have been 

 required, and in the meantime the whole of South Africa 

 would have been in a blaze. I may reasonably ask : would 

 all the continental nations have calmly looked on while we 

 carried on this unjust and oppressive war against a people 

 who were fighting for their liberty, and who were closely 

 allied to some of them ? When one gets beaten, fairly and 

 squarely, it is only human nature to call out to one's big 

 brother for help. But when one's foe happens to have big 

 brothers of his own, it is perhaps better for one to make up 

 the quarrel, than to allow it to implicate all one's friends and 

 relations. 



From Charlestown we went most of the way to Harri- 



