last was not true. He then said, "Give us
your boots"--he took them and my mackintosh. He took what money was in
my belt. One of our men, Bombardier Collins, got up to try and put up a
white flag, as we were being fired at both from the camp and by the
Boers; as soon as he got up they began shooting at him. I saw a Kaffir
fire three shots from about thirty yards off.'

Bombardier Collins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery: 'When lying
wounded near the guns after the Boers had been up to them I tried to
raise a white flag as our own people were dropping their bullets close
to us. When I did this they fired at me.'

So long as an excuse could be found for a brave enemy we found it. But
the day is rapidly approaching when we must turn to the world with our
evidence and say, 'Are these the deeds of soldiers or of brigands? If
they act as brigands, then, why must we for ever treat them as
soldiers?' I have read letters from soldiers who saw their own comrades
ill-treated at Brakenlaagte. I trust that they will hold their hands,
but it is almost more than can be asked of human nature.

CHAPTER XI

CONCLUSIONS

I have now dealt with the various vexed questions of the war, and have,
I hope, said enough to show that we have no reason to blush for our
soldiers, but only for those of their fellow-countrymen who have
traduced them. But there are a number of opponents of the war who have
never descended to such baseness, and who honestly hold that the war
might have been avoided, and also that we might, after it broke out,
have found some terms which the Boers could accept. At their back they
have all those amiable and goodhearted idealists who have not examined
the question very critically, but are oppressed by the fear that the
Empire is acting too roughly towards these pastoral republics. Such an
opinion is just as honest as, and infinitely more respectable than, that
of some journalists whose arrogance at the beginning of the war brought
shame upon us. There is no better representative of such views than Mr.
Methuen in his 'Peace or War,' an able and moderate statement. Let us
examine his conclusions, omitting the causes of the war, which have
already been treated at some length.

Mr. Methuen draws a close comparison between the situation and that of
the American Revolution. There are certainly points of resemblance--and
also of difference. Our cause was essentially unjust with the Americans
and essentially just