d yet leave a
profit for the vendor. Our further ambition is, however, to translate it
into all European tongues, and to send a free copy to every deputy and
every newspaper on the Continent and in America. For this work money
will be needed--a considerable sum. We propose to make an appeal to the
public for these funds. Any sums which are sent to me or to my publisher
will be devoted to this work. There cannot be too much, for the more we
get the more we shall do.

I may add that I have not burdened my pages with continual references.
My quotations are reliable and can always, if necessary, be
substantiated.

A. CONAN DOYLE.
UNDERSHAW, HINDHEAD:
_January, 1902._

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE BOER PEOPLE 9

II. THE CAUSE OF QUARREL 23

III. THE NEGOTIATIONS 41

IV. SOME POINTS EXAMINED 61

V. THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE 73

VI. THE FARM-BURNING 84

VII. THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS 94

VIII. THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA 107

IX. FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS 123

X. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION 133

XI. CONCLUSIONS 150

THE WAR:

ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT

CHAPTER I

THE BOER PEOPLE

It is impossible to appreciate the South African problem and the causes
which have led up to the present war between the British Empire and the
Boer republics without some knowledge, however superficial, of the past
history of South Africa. To tell the tale one must go back to the
beginning, for there has been complete continuity of history in South
Africa, and every stage has depended upon that which has preceded it. No
one can know or appreciate the Boer who does not know his past, for he
is what his past has made him.

It was about the time when Oliver Cromwell was at his zenith--in 1652,
to be pedantically accurate--that the Dutch made their first lodgment at
the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese had been there before them, but,
repelled by the evil weather, and lured forward by rumours of gold, they
had passed the true seat of empire, and had voyaged farther, to settle
along the eastern coast. But the Dutchmen at the Ca