in an instant of
nearly half his force and fiercely attacked by a victorious and exultant
enemy. His position was much too extended for the small force at his
disposal, and the line of trenches was pierced and enfiladed at
many points. It must be acknowledged that the defences were badly
devised--little barbed wire, frail walls, large loopholes, and the
outposts so near the trenches that the assailants could reach them as
quickly as the supports. With the dawn Cotton's position was serious,
if not desperate. He was not only surrounded, but was commanded from Gun
Hill. Perhaps it would have been wiser if, after being wounded, he had
handed over the command to Jones, his junior officer. A stricken man's
judgement can never be so sound as that of the hale. However that may
be, he came to the conclusion that the position was untenable, and that
it was best to prevent further loss of life. Fifty of the Liverpools
were killed and wounded, 200 taken. No ammunition of the gun was
captured, but the Boers were able to get safely away with this
humiliating evidence of their victory. One post, under Captain Wilkinson
with forty men, held out with success, and harassed the enemy in their
retreat. As at Dewetsdorp and at Nooitgedacht, the Boers were unable
to retain their prisoners, so that the substantial fruits of their
enterprise were small, but it forms none the less one more of those
incidents which may cause us to respect our enemy and to be critical
towards ourselves. [Footnote: Considering that Major Stapelton Cotton
was himself wounded in three places during the action (one of these
wounds being in the head), he has had hard measure in being deprived
of his commission by a court-martial which sat eight months after the
event. It is to be earnestly hoped that there may be some revision of
this severe sentence.]

In the last few months of the year some of those corps which had served
their time or which were needed elsewhere were allowed to leave the seat
of war. By the middle of November the three different corps of the City
Imperial Volunteers, the two Canadian contingents, Lumsden's Horse, the
Composite Regiment of Guards, six hundred Australians, A battery R.H.A.,
and the volunteer companies of the regular regiments, were all homeward
bound. This loss of several thousand veteran troops before the war was
over was to be deplored, and though unavoidable in the case of volunteer
contingents, it is difficult to explain where r