Part 10 (1/2)

'We are quite a little Swiss colony here, and I don't know one of my countrymen who would not endorse every word of my statement.

'Many may have sympathies with the Boers, but in all justice they will always give credit to the British troops and their officers for the humane way this war is carried on, and for the splendid way in which Tommy Atkins behaves himself.'

With this was printed in the 'Gazette de Lausanne,' which inst.i.tuted the inquiry, a letter from Mr. Gray, Presbyterian minister in Pretoria, which says:

'A few days ago I received an extract from your issue of November 17 last ent.i.tled ”La Civilisation Anglaise en Afrique.” It consisted mainly of a letter over the signature of H. D. van Broekhuizen (not Broesehuizen as printed), Boer pastor of Pretoria. Allow me, sir, to a.s.sure you that the wholesale statements with regard to the atrocities of British soldiers contained in that letter are a tissue of falsehoods, and const.i.tute an unfounded calumny which it would be difficult to parallel in the annals of warfare. It is difficult to conceive the motives that actuate the writer, but that they have been violent enough to make him absolutely reckless as to facts, is evident.

'When I got the article from your paper I immediately went out to make inquiry as to what possible foundation there was for the charges hurled so wildly at the British soldier. Having lived in Pretoria for the last eleven years I am acquainted with many of the local Boers. Those of them whom I questioned a.s.sured me that they had never known a case in which British soldiers had outraged a woman. One case was rumoured, but had never been substantiated, and was regarded as very doubtful. Let it be granted that some solitary cases of rudeness may have occurred, that would not be surprising under the circ.u.mstances. Still it would not furnish a ground for the libelling of a whole army. The astonis.h.i.+ng fact is, however, that in this country one only hears of the surprise everywhere felt that the British soldier has been so self-restrained and deferential towards women.'

To this M. van Broekhuizen's feeble reply was that there was no ex-consul of the name of Constancon in Pretoria. The 'Gazette de Lausanne' then pointed out that the gentleman was well known, that he had acted in that capacity for many years, and added that if M. van Broekhuizen was so ill-informed upon so simple a matter, it was not likely that he was very correct upon other more contentious ones. Thus again a false coin was nailed to the counter, but only after it had circulated so widely that many who had pa.s.sed it would never know that it was proved to be base metal. Incredible as it may seem, the infamous falsehood was repeated in 1902 by a Dr. Vallentin, in the 'Deutsche Rundschau,' from which it was copied into other leading German papers without any reference to its previous disproof in 1901.

Now we will turn for a moment to the evidence of Miss Alice Bron, the devoted Belgian nurse, who served on both sides during the war and has therefore a fair standard of comparison. Here are a few sentences from her reports:

'I have so often heard it said and repeated that the British soldiers are the dregs of London and the sc.u.m of the criminal cla.s.ses, that their conduct astounded me.'

This is the opinion of a lady who spent two years in the service of humanity on the veldt.

Here are one or two other sidelights from Miss Bron:

'How grateful and respectful they all are! I go to the hospital at night without the slightest fear, and when a sentry hears my reply, ”Sister,”

to his challenge, he always humbly begs my pardon.

'I have seen the last of them and their affectionate attentions, their respect, and their confidence. On this head I could relate many instances of exquisite feeling on the part of these poor soldiers.

'A wounded English soldier was speaking of Cronje. ”Ah, sister,” said he, ”I am glad that we have made so many prisoners.”

'”Why?” I asked, fearing to hear words of hatred.

'”Oh,” he said, ”I was glad to hear it because I know that they at least would be neither wounded nor killed. They will not leave wife nor children, neither will they suffer what we are suffering.”'

She describes how she met General Wavell:

'”You see I have come to protect you,” he said.

'We smiled and bowed, and I thought, ”I know your soldiers too well, General. We don't need any protection.”'

But war may have brutalised the combatants, and so it is of interest to have Nurse Bron's impressions at the end of 1901. She gives her conversation with a Boer:

'”All that I have to say to you is that what you did down there has never been seen in any other war. _Never_ in any country in the world has such a dastardly act been committed as the shooting of one who goes to meet the white flag.”

'Very pale, the chief, a true ”gentleman” fifty-three years old, and the father of eleven children, answered, ”You are right, sister.”

'”And since we talk of these things,” I said, ”I will say that I understand very well that you are defending your country, but what I do not excuse is your lying as you do about these English.”

'”We repeat what we are told.”

'”No,” I said, ”you all of you lie, and you know that you are lying, with the Bible on your knees and invoking the name of G.o.d, and, thanks to your lies, all Europe believes that the English army is composed of a.s.sa.s.sins and thieves. You see how they treat you here!”'

She proceeds to show how they were treated. The patients, it may be observed, were not Boer combatants but Cape rebels, liable to instant execution. This is the diet after operations:

'For eight, or ten days, the patient has champagne _of the choicest French brands_ (her italics), in considerable quant.i.ty, then old cognac, and finally port, stout, or ale at choice, with five or six eggs a day beaten up in brandy and milk, arriving at last at a complete diet of which I, though perfectly well, could not have absorbed the half.'

'This,' she says, 'is another instance of the ”ferocity” with which, according to the European press, the English butchers have conducted the war.'