Three Years' War

ve Permission to R

d not myself consider the place much superior to any other town, and I would not have thought it a matter of any great importa

was only to be expected, the burghers had become entirely disheartened; and it seemed as if they were incapable now of offering any further resistance. The commandos were completely demoralized. Indeed! the bur

elf what I could do whilst the English were remaining inactive. For notwithstanding all that had happened, I had not for a single moment the thought of surren

thence to Kroonstad, at which place I was to meet President

ing to be able to discover some method for checking the advance of Lord Roberts. He was anything

you are going to give the English a free h

, General, with unwill

sfy the old warrior a

know what discipline means. Whatever I had said or done, the burghers would have gone ho

rn, but I preferred to command ten men who were willing

nstad as the seat of the Government, so that

fty to sixty officers. President Steyn presided; and there sat beside him

la Rey, Philip Botha, Froneman, C.P. Cronje, J.B. Wessels, and myself. A numbe

e concerned to discover the best method of continuing the war. We knew, I need scarcely say, that humanly speaking ultimate victory for us was out of the question-that had been clear from the very beginning. For how could our diminutive army hope to stand against the overwhelming numbers at the enemy's command? Yet we had always felt t

unanimously that the great waggon-camps should be done away with, and that henceforth only horse-commandos should be employed. The sad experience we had gained from

will see before he has concluded the perusal of these pages, it was not until many months had elapsed that the waggons

ood spirit among the officers and burghers. There was only one t

his and the following days, that my highest hopes were surpassed. It is true that certain burghers had remained behind. Such was the case with the men from Fauresmith and Jacobsdal, and with a large proportion of the commandos from Philippolis, Smithfield, Wepener, and Bloemfontein. But with these bur

I discovered that my men were being supplied with drink. From this I do not wish the reader to infer that the Afrikanders are drunkards, for this is far from bein