THE BRUNT OF THE WAR AND WHERE IT FELL
BY EMILY HOBHOUSE
WITH A MAP AND NINE ILLUSTRATIONS
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON
1902
PREFACE FROM THE PAST (1587)
Dedication
TO
THE WOMEN OF SOUTH AFRICA
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
WHOSE ENDURANCE OF HARDSHIP RESIGNATION IN LOSS INDEPENDENCE UNDER COERCION DIGNITY IN HUMILIATION PATIENCE THROUGH PAIN AND TRANQUILLITY AMIDST DEATH KINDLED THE REVERENT APPRECIATION OF THE WRITER, AND HAS EXCITED THE SYMPATHY OF THE WORLD
Contents
Introduction
Part I - 1900
CHAPTER I - HOMES DESTROYED
Consequent eviction of families, told by Proclamations, Official Notices, Despatches, Soldiers' and Officers' letters, War correspondents, showing state of country
CHAPTER II - WOMEN IN 1900
Sketch of their experiences early in the war, told chiefly in their letters and by friends - Mrs Hertzog's story
CHAPTER III - FEELING IN THE CAPE COLONY
Feeling aroused and expressed in Cape Colony-Relief started there and in England
Part II - 1901
CHAPTER I - MORE HOMES DESTROYED
Described from the same Sources as above — Reprisals of Boers threatened—Kitchener determines to sweep the entire Country—His Success
CHAPTER II - VISIT TO THE CAMPS
January to June 1901—Sketch of Work, and Reasons for Return Home
CHAPTER III - WORK IN ENGLAND
June to December—Agitation and Opposition—Mr. Brodrick’s Concessions — Commission appointed — Increased Mortality — Mr. Chamberlain’s Reforms
CHAPTER IV - WOMEN IN 1901
Described by Friends (Unofficially)—Endorsed by Passages from Blue Books—Lizzie Van Zyl’s Story
CHAPTER V - WOMEN IN 1901
Told by Themselves in Letters and Petitions—Captures, Evictions, Convoy Travelling, Destitution, and Life in Camps—Supported by Blue Books
PART III—1902
CHAPTER I - FURTHER HOMES DESTROYED
Debates—Official Reasons — Issue of Ladies’ Report — Decreasing Death-Rate—Condition of Women on the Veld—Peace
CHAPTER II - WOMEN IN 1902
Letters showing Appreciation of Reforms effected
CHAPTER III - THE BOER WOMEN
Outline of Character and Temperament—Present Need
APPENDICES
A. Rations
B. Mortality Lists
C. Lists of Farms Burnt
D. Native Camps
E. Date of Establishment of Camps, shown by a Map
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Occupants and Furniture of One Cell Tent soon after arrival from the farm, Nov 1900
Camp Huts, 1901
The Last of Seven. Irene, 1901
“We are Orphans and Fatherless, our Mothers are as Widows ” (Lam. v. 3).
Johanna van Warmelo, one of the Devoted Band of Pretoria Volunteer Nurses
Feeling the Brunt of the War, 1901
School Children at Irene, Nov. 1901
Cooking in Camp, 1901
A Camp Garden bordered with Milk Tins
SOME ARTICLES OF THE HAGUE CONVENTION
Art. XLIV.—Any compulsion of the population of occupied territory to take part in military operations against its own country is prohibited.
Art. XLV.—Any pressure on the population of occupied territory to take the oath to the hostile power is prohibited.
Art. XLVI.—Family honour and rights, individual lives and property, as well as religious convictions and liberty, must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated.
Art. XLVII.—Pillage is formally prohibited.
Art. L.—No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, can be inflicted on the population, on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively responsible.
MANUAL OF MILITARY LAW (1899)
“As the object of war is confined to disabling the enemy, the infliction of any injuries beyond that which is required to produce disability is needless cruelty.”
“The general principle is that in the mode of carrying on war no greater harm shall be done to the enemy than necessity requires for the purpose of bringing him to terms. This principle excludes gratuitous barbarities, and every description of cruelty and insult, which serves only to exasperate the sufferings or to increase the hatred of the enemy without weakening his strength or tending to procure his submission.”
INTRODUCTION
THIS book is designed to give an outline of the recent war, from the standpoint of the women and children. There is no fear of aggravating a controversy amongst the Boers by its publication, for it will add nothing to their knowledge; these facts and many more are already well known in South Africa. But, so far, little has been heard in England of the farm-burning and the camps, from the side of those most concerned. The story is therefore largely told in the letters of women and in descriptions written by their friends. On them fell the brunt of the war. More adult Boers perished in the camps than fell in the field of battle, and over four times as many children. A sketch is given of the history and extent of farm-burning, to demonstrate how wide was the eviction of families, and how powerless they were in the grasp of circumstances. The comments put forward by all parties on its policy and on that of concentration are recorded My own connection with the movement is shortly described, as well as the opposition aroused by my efforts to lessen the hardships and save the lives of the women and children.
I take also this opportunity of publicly denying the accusation, so widely made in the Press and elsewhere, that I have slandered the British troops. No one has yet substantiated this accusation from my words or writings [See Blue Book, Cd. 1163, 1902, p. 109. “ Mr. G. H. Turvey expressed astonishment at persons like Sir H. Campbell Bannerman and Miss Hobhouse slandering, without foundation, men fighting for the honour of old England.”— Public Meeting at Ladybrand, “ On Vile Fabrications and Slanders.”]. I have, on the contrary, done my utmost to uphold the honour of the army. It is true that as long as war exists the honour of a country is confided to its soldiers, who will never cease to shield it; but is not the converse also true, and is it not often forgotten ? viz. that the honour of the soldiers is confided to the country ? If advantage is taken of the necessary obedience of soldiers to demand of them services outside the recognised rules of warfare, or in performance of which their moral duty must clash with their professional duty, the blame lies on the country and its Government but not upon the army.
In these pages it is no part of my object to cast blame on any individual, but I have striven simply to portray the sufferings of the weak and the young with truth and moderation.
To the plain man and woman, outside the political and military worlds, it seems as though in war an arbitrary line is drawn, one side of which is counted barbarism, the other civilisation. May it not be that, in reality, all war is barbarous, varying only in degree ? History shows that as nations have advanced in civilisation this line has gradually been raised, and watchful care is needed lest it slip back. None of us can claim to be wholly civilised till we have drawn the line above war itself and established universal arbitration in place of universal armaments.
The deaths of the Boer children will not have been in vain if their blood shall prove to be the seed of this higher rule of nations. Their innocent histories ought to become fully known and widely understood, and so implant a hatred of war and a shrinking from its horrors, which shall issue in a ripened determination amongst the kingdoms of the world to settle future differences by methods more worthy of civilised men.
My thanks are due to Mr. Alfred Marks, for a detailed and careful compilation of the rates of mortality.
