mpaign of modern times in which this country has
been engaged. The Germans glaringly and wantonly set all such
sentiments at defiance by their ruthless conduct of the present war;
even from its very commencement.

Judging from my own experience, we never had a more chivalrous or
generous foe than the Boers of South Africa, and I can recall numerous
proofs of it.

For instance, I was in charge of the operations against
General Beyers in the Western Transvaal during the latter part of
December 1900. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve a flag of truce--that
symbol of civilisation and chivalry in war which has been practically
unknown during this war with Germany--appeared at our outposts, and a
young Dutch officer was brought to my Headquarters carrying a request
from Beyers regarding the burial of his dead.

Some important movements were then in progress, and I told him we must
of necessity detain him there till the next day, but I hoped we would
be able to make him as comfortable as possible. When he started back
to his General on Christmas morning, I gave him a small box of cigars
and a bottle of whiskey, asking him to present them to Beyers as a
Christmas offering from me.

I had forgotten the incident when, a few days later, two cavalry
soldiers who had been taken prisoners by the enemy marched back into
camp with horses, arms and equipment complete. They brought me a note
from Beyers, thanking me for my gift on Christmas Day and telling me
that, although he had no whiskey or cigars to offer in return, he
hoped I would regard his liberation of these men in the light of a
Christmas gift.

When I told this story at the end of the war to my old friend and
redoubtable opponent, General Christian Smuts, he expressed himself as
very displeased with Beyer's improper use of what was not his own but
his country's property. I pointed out to Smuts that it was the spirit
which Beyers displayed which mattered--that spirit which was never
more conspicuously displayed throughout the war than in the conduct of
this same great soldier and statesman, General Smuts himself.

In the swift and kaleidoscopic changes which occur in world
politics, the friend of to-day may be the enemy of to-morrow. Soldiers
should have no politics, but should cultivate a freemasonry of their
own and, emulating the knights of old, should honour a brave enemy
only second to a comrade, and like them rejoice to split a friendly
lance to-day and ride boot