o what occurred there, and his answer lies
before me: 'We had no expanding bullets in our supply at Mafeking,
unless you call the ordinary Martini-Henry an expanding bullet. I would
not have used them on humane principles, and moreover, an Army order had
been issued against the use of dum-dum bullets in this campaign. On the
other hand, explosive bullets are expressly forbidden in the Convention,
and these the Boers used freely against us in Mafeking, especially on
May 12.'

I have endeavoured also to test the statement as it concerns the troops
to the north of Mafeking. The same high authority says: 'With regard to
the northern force, it is just possible that a few sportsmen in the
Rhodesian column may have had some sporting bullets, but I certainly
never heard of them.' A friend of mine who was in Lobatsi during the
first week of the war assures me that he never saw anything but the
solid bullet. It must be remembered that the state of things was very
exceptional with the Rhodesian force. Their communications to the south
were cut on the second day of the war, and for seven months they were
dependent upon the long and circuitous Beira route for any supplies
which reached them. One could imagine that under such circumstances
uniformity of armament would be more difficult to maintain than in the
case of an army with an assured base.

The expansive bullet is not, as a matter of fact, contrary to the
Conventions of The Hague. It was expressly held from being so by the
representatives of the United States and of Great Britain. In taking
this view I cannot but think that these two enlightened and humanitarian
Powers were ill-advised. Those Conventions were of course only binding
on those who signed them, and therefore in fighting desperate savages
the man-stopping bullet could still have been used. Whatever our motives
in taking the view that we did, a swift retribution has come upon us,
for it has prevented us from exacting any retribution, or even
complaining, when the Boers have used these weapons against us.
Explosive bullets are, however, as my distinguished correspondent points
out, upon a different footing, and if the Boers claim the advantages of
the Conventions of The Hague, then every burgher found with these
weapons in his bandolier is liable to punishment.

Our soldiers have been more merciful than our Hague diplomatists, for in
spite of the reservation of the right to use this ammunition, every
effort has be