icted no penalty upon the rank-and-file
beyond depriving them of the franchise for a few years. A few who, like
the Douglas rebels, were taken red-handed upon the field of battle, were
condemned to periods of imprisonment which varied from one to five
years.

This was in the year 1900. In 1901 there was an invasion of the Colony
by Boers which differed very much from the former one. In the first case
the country had actually been occupied by the Boer forces, who were able
to exert real pressure upon the inhabitants. In the second the invaders
were merely raiding bands who traversed many places but occupied none. A
British subject who joined on the first occasion might plead compulsion,
on the second it was undoubtedly of his own free will.

These Boer bands being very mobile, and never fighting save when they
were at an overwhelming advantage, penetrated all parts of the Colony
and seduced a number of British subjects from their allegiance. The
attacking of small posts and the derailing of trains, military or
civilian, were their chief employment. To cover their tracks they
continually murdered natives whose information might betray them. Their
presence kept the Colony in confusion and threatened the communications
of the Army.

The situation may be brought home to a continental reader by a fairly
exact parallel. Suppose that an Austrian army had invaded Germany, and
that while it was deep in German territory bands of Austrian subjects
who were of German extraction began to tear up the railway lines and
harass the communications. That was our situation in South Africa. Would
the Austrians under these circumstances show much mercy to those rebel
bands, especially if they added cold-blooded murder to their treason? Is
it likely that they would?

The British, however, were very long-suffering. Many hundreds of these
rebels passed into their hands, and most of them escaped with fine and
imprisonment. The ringleaders, and those who were convicted of capital
penal offences, were put to death. I have been at some pains to make a
list of the executions in 1901, including those already mentioned. It is
at least approximately correct:

+---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
| Number | Place | Date | Reason |
+---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
| | | 1901 |