is
subordinates. It was clearly shown that he had endeavoured to hold them
within the bounds of civilised warfare, and with congratulations and
handshakings he was acquitted by the military court.

In the last two months of the year 1901, a new system was introduced
into the Cape Colony campaign by placing the Colonial and district
troops immediately under the command of Colonial officers and of the
Colonial Government. It had long been felt that some devolution was
necessary, and the change was justified by the result. Without any
dramatic incident, an inexorable process of attrition, caused by
continual pursuit and hardship, wore out the commandos. Large bands had
become small ones, and small ones had vanished. Only by the union
of several bodies could any enterprise higher than the looting of a
farmhouse be successfully attempted.

Such a union occurred, however, in the early days of February 1902, when
Smuts, Malan, and several other Boer leaders showed great activity in
the country round Calvinia. Their commandos seem to have included
a proportion of veteran Republicans from the north, who were more
formidable fighting material than the raw Colonial rebels. It happened
that several dangerously weak British columns were operating within
reach at that time, and it was only owing to the really admirable
conduct of the troops that a serious disaster was averted. Two separate
actions, each of them severe, were fought on the same date, and in each
case the Boers were able to bring very superior numbers into the field.

The first of these was the fight in which Colonel Doran's column
extricated itself with severe loss from a most perilous plight. The
whole force under Doran consisted of 350 men with two guns, and this
handful was divided by an expedition which he, with 150 men, undertook
in order to search a distant farm. The remaining two hundred men, under
Captain Saunders, were left upon February 5th with the guns and the
convoy at a place called Middlepost, which lies about fifty miles
south-west of Calvinia. These men were of the 11th, 23rd, and 24th
Imperial Yeomanry, with a troop of Cape Police. The Boer Intelligence
was excellent, as might be expected in a country which is dotted with
farms. The weakened force at Middlepost was instantly attacked by
Smuts's commando. Saunders evacuated the camp and abandoned the convoy,
which was the only thing he could do, but he concentrated all his
efforts upon preserving hi