five hundred men crossed the line,
journeying in the same direction. Before the end of the month, having
gathered together about 2500 men with fresh horses at the Doornberg,
twenty miles north of Winburg, the Boer leader was ready for one of his
lightning treks once more. On January 28th he broke south through the
British net, which appears to have had more meshes than cord. Passing
the Bloemfontein-Ladybrand line at Israel Poort he swept southwards,
with British columns still wearily trailing behind him, like honest
bulldogs panting after a greyhound.

Before following him upon this new venture it is necessary to say a
few words about that peace movement in the Boer States to which some
allusion has already been made. On December 20th Lord Kitchener had
issued a proclamation which was intended to have the effect of affording
protection to those burghers who desired to cease fighting, but who were
unable to do so without incurring the enmity of their irreconcilable
brethren. 'It is hereby notified,' said the document, 'to all burghers
that if after this date they voluntarily surrender they will be allowed
to live with their families in Government laagers until such time as
the guerilla warfare now being carried on will admit of their returning
safely to their homes. All stock and property brought in at the time
of the surrender of such burghers will be respected and paid for if
requisitioned.' This wise and liberal offer was sedulously concealed
from their men by the leaders of the fighting commandos, but was largely
taken advantage of by those Boers to whom it was conveyed. Boer refugee
camps were formed at Pretoria, Johannesburg, Kroonstad, Bloemfontein,
Warrenton; and other points, to which by degrees the whole civil
population came to be transferred. It was the reconcentrado system of
Cuba over again, with the essential difference that the guests of
the British Government were well fed and well treated during their
detention. Within a few months the camps had 50,000 inmates.

It was natural that some of these people, having experienced the
amenity of British rule, and being convinced of the hopelessness of the
struggle, should desire to convey their feelings to their friends and
relations in the field. Both in the Transvaal and in the Orange River
Colony Peace Committees were formed, which endeavoured to persuade their
countrymen to bow to the inevitable. A remarkable letter was published
from Piet de Wet, a man w