LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 57

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

THE DESTRUCTION OF BOER HOMESTEADS.

THE WORK THAT METHUEN HAS BEEN DOING.

The- following letter has been received ill Sydney (says the ‘‘ Daily Telegraph ”) from one of the Hospital Oorps «f the Rhodesian Field Force, under Dord Methuen :- * Botha’s Farm, Zeerust District, Transvaal, 20th November 5 1900. We—-that is, Methuen’s column—-ar-rived here this morning on our chasing, or, rather, looting, expedition. We very rarely come across the enemy. When leaving Jaeabsdaal Methuen “ was sure to catch the Roers this time.” We started early on the 11th from Jacobsdaal for Lichtenburg, the transport and supply column being separated from the dying column, and no mistake we did fly, and we, or, rather, the Bushmen, did. get up to the Boers; but our artillery being with, the main body, we had to retire before a Vickors-Maxim fire before. our guns were in position. When this happened the Boers had taken French leave. The scouts lost sight of them, and we were duly taken to Lichtenburg. For our failure the women and children had to suffer. All women and children of the Lichtenburg surrounding district were brought in. with their goods and chattels, aaid then forwarded to ttCafeking.

As I mentioned in my previous letter, Methuen leaves nothing for either man ■or beast. A commandeering party, consisting of a horde of black fiends (BecSmanas) precedes our main body, and destroy s. crops and commandeers everything in the shape of cattle, food, waggons, etc. Homesteads are burnt down en masso. Brute force of the most deplorable kind here does the work which |he strategist has so far been unable to «o. ?: And hot one strong naan in the whole world lifts his voice on behalf of the wOmen and children of these unfortunate Boers. Humanity is deaf, otherWise! '-But is the mother of wkdom/’ and I had better tell jh»u a little about Inohtenhurg. You would travel aU over Australia, aaid you, would not. come across a prettied; place than Litobbenburg.. As the centre of a cattle-raising district—the most fertile one of- the Transvaal— : Hiobtenbnrg is undoubtedly the abode qf the better; class Boor.; ■ I am told that in times of, peace the English element- is.-practically absent. ' It is an essentially Dutch town. • As you walk along, the; magnificent willow-tree avenues, you might imagine yourself to be on your road from, nan over to Herrenhausen, A typical Dutch ohuroh and a very fine school —now, used as a hospital:—with spacious ; classrooms ... and a large playing ground,; and an equally fine Courthouse, made it quite clear to me that all talk of a higher civilisation having to supersede the Boer civilisation, in- order to keep pace with the advancement of modern times,-is hog-Wash..

As far as the people themselves are conoerned, I must honestly confess that to olass them as inferior people to those of any Australmn country town is as ridiculous as it is untrue. Corsets, paint-, and powder may not be the order of the day, ’ street corner larrikins be absent, one thing is certain: that the Britisher is ilot at all disinclined to gain the favour of -the Boer girl.' As to the manhood, £ can Say little ; but what I have seen, however, satisfies me that the Britisher bis prejudiced against the Boer as is the German against- the Frenchman. .' We left Ifichtenburg, to ray regret, od the 16th and proceeded with some sprty sick men—-most of theta suffering

from*“Bofotitis” —to Ottosboop, and arrhiJci at above place tbis noon. Whether yy shall continue to loot and destroy, capture Boers, I cannot say.: I am ck of both.

Lord Methuen made a speech 3' esterday’after church parade, and told us the latest news; amongst other, that the Boers now in the field kept on fighting to sees what the outcome cf negotiations between Kruger and the German Government would be re the establishment of a new Boer Republic. The idea seems right enough, but what has John Bull to say on the matter? Take the Boer out of the Transvaal and the Free State and South Africa is left a skeleton.

I don’t know from wha-t sources England expects to get revenue in order to pay the expenses of the war. My opinion is that with the creation of a second and most dangerous Ireland—as Morley saw it—England has burdened herself to such an. extent as is bound to force her to adopt a very different policy. '‘South Africa has paid the price of independence; we shall all be free by and bye, ’ said an old Dutchman in Lichtenburg to me, and I can only cherish the same hope. If an Englishman has a right to be*free, why deny it to the Boer? I shall write more from Zeorust., where we shall probably stay some time.

The young resident of Featherston who, at the outbreak of war,.'.stowed, away to South Africa, and after many adventures reached . the firing line, writes to his relatives as follows : Pbtchefstroom, December 12, 1900. I am just sending you a few lines to letyou know the state of things in general. The regiment is: being reorganised,, and all the old hands, that is, all who joined before "the Ist March, 1900, are offered their discharge. I joined before the Ist March, but I am going to stay on to the end or until the whole regiment is disbanded. We have been pretty busy lately. A detachment of ours with General Hart was cut up near - Fredericks!ad, two men and Sergeant Duthie being killed and four wounded. The main body has been, clearing the country round this place. Wo are bringing in the women from all parts and burning the farms. Every day we are sniped at, but the Boers are very excited shots', and don’t do much damage. I am sorry to say -Captain. O’Donoghue and Lieutenant Casement left us in June, just after the entry into Johannesburg. I wrote to you about it. Captain O’Donoghue is Captain of Supplies at Capetown now, and Lieutenant Casement is Commissioner of Mines at Johannesburg. Lieutenant Montgomery has been in command of us since, and we are only about ten original Irish squadron, in ,the field. The others are sick, wounded or discharged. Major Beresford ha.s left us to take command of Orange River Colony Police, and Major Smith is in command of the regiment. He is an oldi Indian soldier, and a gentleman. Our Lieutenant Montgomery is a good old gentleman and a proper soldier. He held a commission in the First Life Guards in their famous charge at Cassasin in Egypt in 18S1, where he broke a sword. He has also fought for other flags, for the Japs and for the Americans. He has travelled much in Australia, America and almost everywhere. He knows Uncle Bob.. He gets papers from America regularly and lets ,me have them, and he always has long talks with all of us. The men will follow , him anywhere. - He is one of the oldest men in the Corps. ' He was shot in the mess tin and saddle at Sannae Post, and has had a lot of narrow escapes. I have just got a new mount, a big blue Cape ‘horse, which is a grand one about 16£ hands highr Trooper H. Fitzsimmons writes as follows-:—-Reitfontein, December 13, 1900. On November 21st we marched out of Pretoria, in company with the Third Contingent and other troops' under General Paget; (the First Contingent had left: Pretoria previous to this en route for New Zealand, and the Second and Third are joined under Colonel Cradock). Our contingent only , number 91 all told, officers and men, and the Third about the same. We’ve had a gcod deal of marching and skirmishing lately, but the stiff est- day was the 29th of last month, when we lost twelve men and three officers killed, and three wounded (two men in my group and four w ounded). The Third lost pretty heavy v too. We were up at .two o’clock that morning, and came in contact with the enemy about five, and. advanced up to within 600 yards of them. We had, however, gone too 1 far over the ridge, and when we found they were too strong and that we could not go back/we just stuck to it. lying in the grass (some behind, anthills) and blazed away at them. . They returned the compliment with interest, only they had the advantage of being behind rocks. About three p.m. two guns came to .our assistance, and it eased off a bit then, but when the guns started to retire just before dark there was a scene that beggars description. The enemy had advanced one of their guns, and a pom-pom, up to a good: position, and as soon as our horses started] to come up they opened on us, and the rifles cracked all round.. _ It sounded like hell let loose for a while ; but we kept them at bay and stopped there till about ten p.m., when we were relieved by some infantry. We then went in, had a cup of coffee, and were out again on the hills all night. It was just before dark that poor old Devereau was hit (a- grand fellow and a good mate). He was turning round, when a bullet

struck him in the armpit, went through his body and heart, and came out the other side. He just drew up his arms and legs and dropped. We were paraded before Paget next day and complimented on our behaviour. He said "Colonel Oradock, you have men who will ride anywhere and do anything.” We are getting plenty of work just now. A night in bed now and then and reveille at two a.m. every day. Some times we pull out at midnight, and although we growl like the devil, we don’t mind so much, as it is fascinating work, this man hunting, especially as "we have orders to take no prisoners, but to shoot first and challenge afterwards. Nor are wo to take any notice of the white flag, as the Boer 3 have abused the use of it so often, and on the day of Rhenoster Kop shelled both the ambulance waggon and the stretcher bearers, until at last the hearers threw down the red cross flag in disgust, as it was no protection to them. Too much praise cannot be accorded the brave fellows who carried on the work of caring for the wounded. We had rather an amusing episode this morning. Boers were reported yesterday to be in force on Rhenoster Hop (that is the name of a big hill near where we are camped), so we were up at two this morning, and with the help of Colonel Hickman’s Brigade, surrounded the kop, while the infantry stormed: up the face. What, do you think we struck? Nothing but -troops of baboons; by gosh, it was a take down. 1 am.feeling fit at present, but have an attack of rheumatics occasionally.

The tragedy of war was never more fully revealed (the “Canadian Gazette” of December 6th says) than in the case of Private Molloy, of the Canadian Mounted Infantry, who was shot through his head from temple tp temple at Bronkhurst Spruit and has lost the sight of both eyes. At the call of the Mother Country he gave up a promising career in a Canadian University, and proceeded with his fellow-countrymen to fight the Empire’s battles in South Africa. Though fate has been so unkind to him, he bears his misfortunes with heroic fortitude, and the words which he spoke before leaving Liverpool a week ago for home with thirty of his invalided soldiers are the words of a true soldier. “I have no regrets for the past,” he said. “I think if a man decides that a course is right and has followed that course .out j he has no right to r c gret afterwards whatever the consequences may be. Of course, it looks rather unfortunate to see one’s hopes, aims and aspirations all cut down at a swoop, sudden ana irreparable, but there are conditions which alter circumstances to a certain extent, and I believe that the truly brave man and soldier will accept with manly fortitude the vicissitudes of for tun ey and will not be overwhelmed by any circumstance, but will still, with a calm heart and serene mind, go bravely forward.” So long as th% spirit is abroad m the Empire, we need have no fears for its future.