e for a
moment and use common-sense, and you will then agree with me that the
best thing for the people and the country is to give in, to be loyal to
the new Government, and to get responsible government.' Such were the
sentiments of many of the best of the burghers, and they endeavoured to
persuade their fellows. Both in the Transvaal and in the Free State,
Peace Committees were formed among the burghers, who sent deputies to
lay the facts of the situation before their brethren on commando. The
results were tragic. Two of the envoys, Morgendaal and de Koch, were
shot in cold blood, the former having been first beaten. Several of the
others were beaten, and all were ill-used.

This severity did not, however, stop the movement, but gave it a fiercer
turn. The burghers who were in favour of peace, finding it useless to
argue with their fellow-countrymen and knowing that their country was
being hopelessly ruined by the insensate resistance, took the extreme
course at last of bearing arms against them. There are at present three
strong commandos of burghers fighting upon the British side, commanded
by three Boer Generals--Marais, Celliers, and the younger Cronje, all of
whom had made their names in fighting against us. This fact alone goes
far to dispel those stories of British barbarity with which I shall
presently deal. They are believed in by political fanatics in England
and by dupes abroad, but the answer which many of the Boers upon the
spot make to them is to enlist and fight under the British flag. They
are in the best position for knowing the truth, and how can they show in
a stronger way what they believe that truth to be?

CHAPTER VI

THE FARM-BURNING

In the official correspondence which is published between the Boer and
British leaders in South Africa may very clearly be traced the way in
which this practice came to assume proportions which shocked public
opinion. It must be admitted that the results have not justified it, and
that, putting all moral questions apart, a burned-out family is the last
which is likely to settle down, as we hope that the Boers may eventually
settle down, as contented British citizens. On the other hand, when a
nation adopts guerilla tactics it deliberately courts those sufferings
to the whole country which such tactics invariably entail. They have
been the same in all wars and at all times. The army which is stung by
guerillas, strikes round it furiously and occasionally