diers? So far as their
reports are known, nothing of the sort has been alleged. Captain Slocum,
the American representative, writes from Bloemfontein:

'The British have been too merciful, and I believe, had a more rigorous
course been adopted when the Army first entered this capital and the
enemy thoroughly stampeded, the war would have been materially
shortened.'

The French military attache said: 'What I admire most in this campaign
is the conduct of your soldiers. Here they are trekking and fighting
daily in an uninteresting country, scorched by day, cold by night,
without drink, without women. Any other soldiers in Europe would have
mutinied long ago.'

There were several foreign war-correspondents with our army. Of these
the only Frenchman, M. Carrere of the 'Matin' was an ardent pro-Boer.
Read his book, 'En pleine Epopee.' He is bitter against our policy and
our politicians. His eyes are very keenly open for flaws in our Army.
But from cover to cover he has nothing but praise for the devoted Tommy
and his chivalrous officer.

Three American correspondents were there--there may have been more, but
three I knew. These were Messrs. Julian Ralph, James Barnes, and Unger.
The first two were much impressed by the humanity and discipline of the
British troops, though Mr. Ralph was, I believe, like Captain Slocum, of
the opinion that it was occasionally pushed too far. Mr. Unger's
published impressions of the war confirm the same idea.

Here, then, is practical unanimity among all the impartial witnesses. On
the opinions of our own correspondents I will not dwell. I have the
advantage of knowing nearly all of them, and though among them are
several gentlemen who have a chivalrous and idealistic sympathy for the
Boers, I cannot recollect that I have ever once heard one of them record
a single instance where they had been shocked by the conduct of a
soldier.

I may, perhaps, be permitted to add my own testimony. I went to South
Africa with great sympathy for the individual Boer, and with a belief
that I should find soldiers in the field very different from soldiers in
peace. I was three months in Bloemfontein when there were from ten to
thirty thousand men encamped round the town. During that time I only
once saw a man drunk. I never saw a man drunk during the short time that
I was in Pretoria and Johannesburg. I once heard of a soldier striking a
Boer. It was because the man had refused to raise his hat at the buri