In South Africa with Buller: a vivid account of the second Boer War from an author well known for his works dealing with wars and the effects of war.
Published by Little, Brown and company in Boston, 1900
Preface ...
The dust and heat of South Africa do not inspire literary style, and chapters written on horseback, after sixteen hours in the saddle, lack the polish bestowed by writers reclining in comfort and clean linen. I had planned to write a personal story, after the prevailing fashion, but finding that peerless artists were preparing word pictures of the campaign, I concluded that what was wanted was a plain account of the war and its causes, based on personal observation and investigation.
Thanks to prominent Afrikanders, who were exceedingly anxious that I should present their side in the United States, their views and aspirations were freely brought to my notice. But familiarity with the Taal is apt to breed contempt, and though one cannot be blind to the machinations of capitalists and the blunders of imperialists and ultra loyalists, a careful review of facts will lead all lovers of universal liberty to realize that the only hope for South Africa lies in its federation under the almost republican constitution guaranteed by the British flag.
The Orange Free State, founded as a republic by the British Foreign Office, and always on terms of cordiality with Downing Street, was in part induced to take up arms against a traditional friend by the possibilities of Dutch supremacy in South Africa. This Boer raid into the Colonies, however was nothing but blatant and unjustifiable aggression; it was, from first to last, a war of conquest and subjugation. The great sympathy that I had for the Boers vanished when I saw their ruthless devastation and method of extending their rule toward Cape Town.
Patriots seeking to fight an army that may menace their existence do not wage war on women and children, or force citizens to take up arms against their own. country, turning out on the bare veldt those who refuse, looting their homes and crops. I have seen much of revolution. For three years I was a sympathetic witness of the Cubans in their struggle for freedom from Spain's grip and I would that the ultra Afrikanders could take a lesson from those self-sacrificing peasants.
In their response to the Boer uprising, it is to the United States that England has looked for justice. Certainly at this juncture sympathy for either side can do no practical good. Yet with common language and ideals, the United States and Great Britain should have a better understanding than at present exists. Many thoughtful Americans, see nothing today in South Africa but the deliberate attempt of Rhodes and his cohorts to grab two tiny republics for their own exploitation. Some of them represent all that is highest and best in the United States but it seems beyond human power to alter their opinion. Alongside them, however, there are thousands of intelligent citizens who are desperately awaiting the clarity of full reports, anxious only for the truth.
But this is hard to find. On the one hand, in a recent visit to the Transvaal lasting no more than a few hours, the late Assistant Secretary of the Interior claimed that the Boers were the "torch-bearers of the highest civilization", disproved the wrongs of the Uitlanders and the corruption of Krugerism, and returned to propagate the duty of the United States to cry a halt to the advance of the British forces. On the other, converse with the true American residents in South Africa and you will find that some ninety per cent, Republicans and Democrats, favour the British side. It is all but impossible to find one American in South Africa who is not loud in his denunciation of the Transvaal Government. These are men who have tasted the evils of Krugerism. They speak in the light of experience, and from the standpoint of plain American citizens.
President Kruger invoked as arbiter the God of Battles. We can look for no higher decision but nevertheless, at 2pm to-day, the British flag was hoisted over Pretoria. There are many indications that the devoted but credulous burghers, who have fought so bravely and suffered so vainly for what they deemed right, will ere long relinquish their apanthropic ideas, and return to their homes to help build up a united South Africa. They have proved the fallacy of the exegesis of their leaders, whose greed and lust of territory has been one of the many causes of the inevitable war; and it rests with British statesmen to now form a tactful administration that alone can win their confidence and respect.
Published by Little, Brown and company in Boston, 1900
Preface ...
The dust and heat of South Africa do not inspire literary style, and chapters written on horseback, after sixteen hours in the saddle, lack the polish bestowed by writers reclining in comfort and clean linen. I had planned to write a personal story, after the prevailing fashion, but finding that peerless artists were preparing word pictures of the campaign, I concluded that what was wanted was a plain account of the war and its causes, based on personal observation and investigation.
Thanks to prominent Afrikanders, who were exceedingly anxious that I should present their side in the United States, their views and aspirations were freely brought to my notice. But familiarity with the Taal is apt to breed contempt, and though one cannot be blind to the machinations of capitalists and the blunders of imperialists and ultra loyalists, a careful review of facts will lead all lovers of universal liberty to realize that the only hope for South Africa lies in its federation under the almost republican constitution guaranteed by the British flag.
The Orange Free State, founded as a republic by the British Foreign Office, and always on terms of cordiality with Downing Street, was in part induced to take up arms against a traditional friend by the possibilities of Dutch supremacy in South Africa. This Boer raid into the Colonies, however was nothing but blatant and unjustifiable aggression; it was, from first to last, a war of conquest and subjugation. The great sympathy that I had for the Boers vanished when I saw their ruthless devastation and method of extending their rule toward Cape Town.
Patriots seeking to fight an army that may menace their existence do not wage war on women and children, or force citizens to take up arms against their own. country, turning out on the bare veldt those who refuse, looting their homes and crops. I have seen much of revolution. For three years I was a sympathetic witness of the Cubans in their struggle for freedom from Spain's grip and I would that the ultra Afrikanders could take a lesson from those self-sacrificing peasants.
In their response to the Boer uprising, it is to the United States that England has looked for justice. Certainly at this juncture sympathy for either side can do no practical good. Yet with common language and ideals, the United States and Great Britain should have a better understanding than at present exists. Many thoughtful Americans, see nothing today in South Africa but the deliberate attempt of Rhodes and his cohorts to grab two tiny republics for their own exploitation. Some of them represent all that is highest and best in the United States but it seems beyond human power to alter their opinion. Alongside them, however, there are thousands of intelligent citizens who are desperately awaiting the clarity of full reports, anxious only for the truth.
But this is hard to find. On the one hand, in a recent visit to the Transvaal lasting no more than a few hours, the late Assistant Secretary of the Interior claimed that the Boers were the "torch-bearers of the highest civilization", disproved the wrongs of the Uitlanders and the corruption of Krugerism, and returned to propagate the duty of the United States to cry a halt to the advance of the British forces. On the other, converse with the true American residents in South Africa and you will find that some ninety per cent, Republicans and Democrats, favour the British side. It is all but impossible to find one American in South Africa who is not loud in his denunciation of the Transvaal Government. These are men who have tasted the evils of Krugerism. They speak in the light of experience, and from the standpoint of plain American citizens.
President Kruger invoked as arbiter the God of Battles. We can look for no higher decision but nevertheless, at 2pm to-day, the British flag was hoisted over Pretoria. There are many indications that the devoted but credulous burghers, who have fought so bravely and suffered so vainly for what they deemed right, will ere long relinquish their apanthropic ideas, and return to their homes to help build up a united South Africa. They have proved the fallacy of the exegesis of their leaders, whose greed and lust of territory has been one of the many causes of the inevitable war; and it rests with British statesmen to now form a tactful administration that alone can win their confidence and respect.
GEORGE CLARKE MUSGRAVE
S. S. ETHIOPIA, June 5, 1900
S. S. ETHIOPIA, June 5, 1900
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