, and
his desertion of the Boer cause should make it clear to his
fellow-burghers that it is useless for them to continue the
struggle any longer.

"It is probably unknown to the inhabitants of the Transvaal
and Orange River Colony that nearly 15,000 of their
fellow-subjects are now prisoners of war, not one of whom
will be released until those now in arms against us surrender
unconditionally.

"The burghers must now by this time be cognisant of the fact
that no intervention on their behalf will come from any of
the Great Powers, and, further, that the British Empire is
determined to complete the work which has already cost so
many valuable lives, and to carry to its conclusion the war
declared against her by the late Governments of the Transvaal
and Orange Free State--a war to which there can be but one
ending.

"If any further doubts remain in the minds of the burghers as
to Her Britannic Majesty's intentions, they should be
dispelled by the permanent manner in which the country is
gradually being occupied by Her Majesty's forces, and by the
issue of the proclamations signed by me on the 24th May and
the 1st September, 1900, annexing the Orange Free State and
the South African Republic respectively, in the name of Her
Majesty.

"I take this opportunity of pointing out that, except in the
small area occupied by the Boer army under the personal
command of Commandant General Botha, the war is degenerating
into operations carried on in an irregular and irresponsible
manner by small, and, in very many cases, insignificant
bodies of men.

"I should be failing in my duty to Her Majesty's Government
and to Her Majesty's Army in South Africa, if I neglected to
use every means in my power to bring such irregular warfare
to an early conclusion.

"The means which I am compelled to adopt are those which the
customs of war prescribe as being applicable to such cases.

"They are ruinous to the country, entail endless suffering on
the burghers and their families, and the longer this guerilla
warfare continues the more vigorously must they be
enforced."]

_Wednesday, 12