ritish courage, which led their leaders into
a course of action which culminated in an ambition to substitute Dutch
for British throughout South Africa, and thus brought down upon the two
republics the ruin and disasters of the great war of 1899-1901.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

THE BOER WAR IN 1900.

THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH.

Early in the year 1899 the differences between Mr Kruger, President of
the South African Republic, and the British Government, upon the
position of the foreign population in his territory, began to assume an
acute phase. A petition to Her Majesty, setting out their grievances
and asking for protection for her subjects in the Transvaal, was very
largely signed, and the British High Commissioner stated his opinion
that the position of the non-burgher population was intolerable, and
that this was an overwhelming case for intervention. For many weeks
negotiations were carried on between London and Pretoria, the British
Government making very little preparation for a war which it hoped to
avoid; while Mr Kruger, on the other land, proceeded to arm his
burghers and make every preparation for a war which, if he made no
concessions, he knew to be inevitable if the British Government did not
retire from the position they had taken.

At length, everything being ready on his side, on 9th October President
Kruger issued an ultimatum, demanding the withdrawal of Great Britain's
troops within forty-eight hours. This was a declaration of war. War
immediately followed, and armed Boers, previously assembled on the
frontier, poured in thousands into Natal, crossing the frontier both on
the north and on the west on the 12th of October, and gradually overran
the north of the colony, converging upon Ladysmith. The British force
in that part was small, and though in the various actions at Talana
Hill--in which the situation of Majuba Hill may be said to have been
reversed--Elandslaagte, and Rietfontein, portions of the Boer forces had
been met and defeated, it became evident that their numbers and their
mobility had been absurdly underestimated, and that when once
concentrated they far outnumbered the forces at the disposal of Sir
George White, who therefore decided to entrench and await reinforcements
at Ladysmith,--not a strong position, for it was commanded by hills on
all sides, but it had been a great depot of military stores which could
not be removed.

By 2nd November the railway and telegraph connecti