y us and shot for
high treason, what would not have been said by those who did not
hesitate to send our own unfaithful burghers to us to induce us to
surrender.

I cannot say whether Lord Roberts was personally responsible for the
sending of these messengers, but that such action was extremely
improper no one can deny. It was a specially stupendous piece of
impudence on the part of these men, J. S. Smit and J. F. de Beer,
burghers both, and highly placed officials of the S. A. Republic. They
had thrown down their arms and sworn allegiance to an enemy, thereby
committing high treason in the fullest sense of the word. They now
came through the fighting lines of their former comrades to ascertain
from the commanders of the republican army why the whole nation did
not follow their example, why they would not surrender their liberty
and very existence as a people and commit the most despicable act
known to mankind.

"Pretoria was in British hands!" As if, forsooth, the existence of our
nationality began and ended in Pretoria! Pretoria was after all only a
village where "patriots" of the Smit and de Beer stamp had for years
been fattening on State funds, and, having filled their pockets by
means of questionable practices, had helped to damage the reputation
of a young and virile nation.

Not only had they enjoyed the spoils of high office in the State
Service offices, to which a fabulous remuneration was attached, but
they belonged to the Boer aristocracy, members of honourable families
whose high birth and qualities had secured for them preference over
thousands of other men and the unlimited confidence of the Head of
State. Little wonder these gentlemen regarded the fall of Pretoria as
the end of the war!

The battle continued the whole day; it was fiercest on our left flank,
where General French and his cavalry charged the positions of the
Ermelo and Bethel burghers again and again, each time to be repulsed
with heavy losses. Once the lancers attacked so valiantly that a
hand-to-hand fight ensued. The commandant of the Bethel burghers
afterwards told me that during the charge his kaffir servant got among
the lancers and called upon them to "Hands up!" The unsophisticated
native had heard so much about "hands up," and "hands-uppers," that he
thought the entire English language consisted of those two simple
words, and when one lancer shouted to him "Hands up," he echoed "Hands
up." The British cavalryman thrust his lan