ed, and if in part it failed the
fault was not ours!

At the latter end, when guerilla warfare became the order of the day,
and the only end aimed at was not fighting, but the mere securing or
destruction of food supplies, it became necessary to sweep the veldt
as with a broom, and to bring within the British lines everybody still
left and everybody's belongings; but even then it was a gigantic task,
involving much wrecking of what could not be removed; and in the
earlier stages of the war such a sweep, if not actually enormously
beyond the strength available for it, would certainly have involved
many a fatal delay in the progress of the troops.

[Sidenote: _Two notable Advocates of Clemency._]

This championship of clemency is no new thing in the war annals of our
island home, and Lord Roberts, in his insistence on it, did but tread
in the steps of the very mightiest of his predecessors. Wellington
during the Peninsular wars actually dismissed from his service and
sent back in disgrace to Spain 25,000 sorely-needed Spanish soldiers,
simply because he could not restrain their wayside barbarities. He
recognised that a policy which outrages humanity, in the long run
means disaster; and frankly confessed concerning his troops, that if
they plundered they would ruin all. In a precisely similar vein is
Nelson's last prayer, which constitutes the last entry but one in his
diary:--"May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my country ... a
glorious victory. May no misconduct in anyone tarnish it, and may
humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British
fleet."

It was in the spirit of Nelson's prayer and Wellington's precept that
Lord Roberts strove to conduct his South African operations. With what
success let all the world bear witness!

[Sidenote: _Mines without Men, and Men without Meat._]

From "The three Sisters," which we reached on our Sabbathless Sunday,
we tramped all day on Monday till we reached a tributary of the
Crocodile River close to the Noordkaap railway station, about seven
miles out from Barberton, which we were not then privileged to visit.
Near this place we found the famous Sheba gold mine, its costly
machinery for the present lying idle, and its cottages deserted at the
stern bidding of intruding war--that most potent disturber of the
industries of peace. Here from the loftiest mountain peaks were
cables, with cages attached, sloping down to the gold-crushing house;
and across