DOCSLIB.ORG

2018 Nielsen Mads 12152873

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
2018 Nielsen Mads 12152873 This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ 'As Bad as the Congo/? British Perceptions of Colonial Rule and Violence in Anglo-German Southern Africa, 1896-1918 Bomholt Nielsen, Mads Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 ‘As Bad as the Congo’? – British Perceptions of Colonial Rule and Violence in Anglo-German Southern Africa, 1896-1918 Mads Bomholt Nielsen PhD History Faculty of Arts & Humanities King’s College London 1 Abstract This thesis examines British perceptions of Anglo-German colonialism in Southern Africa before and after the First World War. During the peace negotiations at Versailles, the British Foreign Office published the Blue Book which exposed Germany’s brutal suppression of the 1904-8 Herero and Nama uprising in German Southwest Africa (GSWA) as an abuse of the responsibilities of a colonial power. This was part of a move to allow Britain and her allies to confiscate German colonies all over the globe through showing how Germany was unfit as a trustee of ‘backward’ nations. The German delegation responded by publishing a White Book which claimed Britain had committed similar atrocities in its colonies – particularly in Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s. This dissertation examines the entangled histories of British and German colonial violence in the cases of Southern Rhodesia and GSWA. It juxtaposes how the British viewed, and in part collaborated with, German counterinsurgency at the zenith of ‘High Imperialism’ vs. their position at Versailles. It explores the interests and agendas of British officials. These included the internal security of Southern Rhodesia and the extent of governmental influence, the problem of the Boer diehards who had taken up residence in GSWA, and rivalry with Germany for command of south-central Africa. Situated in this myriad of stakes was the African resistance of the Ndebele and the Herero and Nama which posed both challenges and opportunities for British officials. Central to the thesis is an exploration of the values and ideas which underpinned British attitudes to colonial violence. It seeks in particular to understand the role of humanitarianism, central to the justification for European rule in Africa since its partition at the Berlin Conference. It examines equally how ideas of race and civilisation shaped how British officials understood both their strategic interests and the legitimate uses of colonial violence in the aftermath of the partition of Africa. Overall, the dissertation is a contribution to a new history of European imperialism in Africa which keeps in focus, at the same time, the histories of European imperial rivalry and collaboration. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 2 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 5 Introduction................................................................................................................. 6 1 Colonialism at Versailles and Ideologies of Colonial Rule .................................... 29 Beginning at the End: The Colonial Question at Versailles ..................................................... 29 Humanitarianism and the Civilising Mission............................................................................... 39 Racial ideologies and Scientific Racialism .................................................................................... 47 2 The 1896 Ndebele Rebellion in Southern Rhodesia .............................................. 56 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 56 The Conquest of Southern Rhodesia and the Foundations of Company Rule ..................... 63 Warfare in the 1896 Rebellion ....................................................................................................... 72 The Jameson Raid: The BSAC and Government Relations in an International Context .... 88 Causes of the Rebellion: Company Rule under Scrutiny ........................................................... 94 The Aftermath: Labour Regulations and Imperial Policies .................................................... 106 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 120 3 The Herero-Nama War in German Southwest Africa, 1904-1908 ......................... 125 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 125 The Colonial Beginnings of GSWA: Policies and Entanglements ........................................ 131 Total War in Africa: Outbreak of the Rebellion ....................................................................... 149 Concentration Camps and Genocide ......................................................................................... 159 Between Collaboration and Anxiety: The ‘Friendly’ Neutrality of Britain ........................... 169 German Suspicions and British Anxieties ................................................................................. 180 British Refugee and Border Policies ........................................................................................... 191 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 207 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 213 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 224 Appendix A: Map of Southern Africa ....................................................................... 248 Appendix B: Maps of Southern Rhodesia ................................................................ 249 Appendix C: Map Supposed Mineral Wealth in Matabeleland ............................... 250 Appendix D: Map of GSWA Indicating Locations of Indigenous Communities. .. 251 Appendix E: Overview of Dramatis Personæ and their office(s) ............................ 252 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Charles Boxer Professor Francisco Bethencourt and Rhodes Professor of Imperial History Richard Drayton for their help and guidance. Francisco has always managed to make time for me even when he was incredibly busy elsewhere and has always given me good advice and support. Francisco’s work on racism and humanity in particular has been influential on my own research and scholarly work ever since he supervised my MA dissertation in 2013. Without the inspiration and support from Francisco, I would never have completed this thesis. Richard has always given me sharp and constructive feedback and has been extremely helpful in pursuing opportunities for the future. I am also thankful to Richard for introducing me to both transnational history and the historiography of the British Empire during my MA in World History at King’s. I am grateful in particular to Richard for sharing with me from 2012 his arguments on trans- European imperial collaboration which proved a critical tool for my thinking about Anglo- German colonialism. I must also send my sincere thanks to my parents who have been immensely supportive throughout and have always been there when life as an unfunded graduate student was difficult. I would never have managed it without their unwithering support and I can only hope to repay it sometime. My dear friends in both London and Copenhagen also deserve my gratitude. Stefanos Koryzis, Christian Weber and Ali Adjorlu have been particularly supportive throughout whether listening to my rambling or kindly lending me a couch to sleep on. Also, I would like to direct a sincere thanks to my former history teacher, Ole Weischer, for igniting my interest and inspiring
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Rise of the German Menace
    The Rise of the German Menace Imperial Anxiety and British Popular Culture, 1896-1903 Patrick Longson University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Doctoral Thesis for Submission to the School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham on 18 October 2013. Examined at the University of Birmingham on 3 January 2014 by: Professor John M. MacKenzie Professor Emeritus, University of Lancaster & Professor Matthew Hilton University of Birmingham Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Before the German Menace: Imperial Anxieties up to 1896 25 Chapter 2 The Kruger Telegram Crisis 43 Chapter 3 The Legacy of the Kruger Telegram, 1896-1902 70 Chapter 4 The German Imperial Menace: Popular Discourse and British Policy, 1902-1903 98 Conclusion 126 Bibliography 133 Acknowledgments The writing of this thesis has presented many varied challenges and trials. Without the support of so many people it would not have been possible. My long suffering supervisors Professor Corey Ross and Dr Kim Wagner have always been on hand to advise and inspire me. They have both gone above and beyond their obligations and I must express my sincere thanks and lasting friendship.
    [Show full text]
  • The Project Gutenberg E-Book of Lord Milner's Work
    Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained. Downloaded from www.gendatabase.com LORD MILNER'S WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT IN 1897 TO THE PEACE OF VEREENIGING IN 1902 CONTAINING HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED INFORMATION BY W. BASIL WORSFOLD WITH PORTRAITS AND MAP Downloaded from www.gendatabase.com "What would have been the position to-day in South Africa if there had not been a man prepared to take upon himself responsibility; a man whom difficulties could not conquer, whom disasters could not cow, and whom obloquy could never move?"—LORD GOSCHEN in the House of Lords, March 29th, 1906 LONDON JOHN MURRAY ALBEMARLE STREET W 1906 This Edition enjoys copyright in all countries signatory to the Berne Convention, as well as in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and all British Colonies and Dependencies. Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. PREFACE In sending this book to press I have only two remarks to make by way of preface. The first is wholly personal. It has been my good fortune to reside twice for a considerable period in South Africa—first in the neighbourhood of Capetown (1883-5), and afterwards in Johannesburg (1904-5). During these periods of residence, and also during the long interval between them, I have been brought into personal contact with many of the principal actors in the events which are related in this book. While, therefore, no pains have been spared to secure accuracy by a careful study of official papers and other reliable publications, my information is not derived by any means exclusively from these sources.
    [Show full text]
  • The War in South Africa
    The War in South Africa By Arthur Conan Doyle 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 Cape prospered and grew stronger in that robust climate. They did not penetrate far inland, for they were few in number, and all they wanted was to be found close at hand. But they built themselves houses, and they supplied the Dutch East India Company with food and water, gradually budding off little townlets, Wynberg, Stellenbosch, and pushing their settlements up the long slopes which lead to that great central plateau which extends for 1,500 miles from the edge of the Karoo to the Valley of the Zambesi.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Downloaded from the Humanities Digital Library http://www.humanities-digital-library.org Open Access books made available by the School of Advanced Study, University of London Press ***** Publication details: Administering the Empire, 1801-1968: A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in the National Archives of the UK by Mandy Banton http://humanities-digital-library.org/index.php/hdl/catalog/book/administering-the- empire-1801-1968 DOI: 10.14296/0920.9781912702787 ***** This edition published 2020 by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom ISBN 978-1-912702-78-7 (PDF edition) This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in The National Archives of the UK Archives National The Office in of the Colonial to the Records A Guide 1801–1968Administering the Empire, Administering the Empire, 1801-1968 is an indispensable introduction to British colonial rule during Administering the Empire, 1801–1968 the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It provides an essential guide to the records of the British Colonial Office, and those of other departments responsible for colonial administration, which are A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in now held in The National Archives of the United Kingdom. The National Archives of the UK As a user-friendly archival guide, Administering the Empire explains the organisation of these records, the information they provide, and how best to explore them using contemporary finding aids.
    [Show full text]
  • German Empire (Berlin)
    GERMAN EMPIRE (BERLIN) Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.14, on 29 Sep 2021 at 07:35:47, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S096011631800026X Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.14, on 29 Sep 2021 at 07:35:47, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S096011631800026X BERLIN FO /: Lord Ampthill to Earl Granville, No , Berlin, April [Received April by post. For: The Queen / Gladstone / X, Ch.W.D. [Charles Wentworth Dilke]; Prince of Wales; G[ranville]] State governments oppose suggestion to create an imperial ministry responsible to the Reichstag I have the honour to enclose to Your Lordship herewith in original and translation a Report given in yesterday’sofficial Gazette of the proceedings in a plenary meeting of the Federal Council which took place on the th Instant, at which The Imperial Chancellor was present in person. As reported in my Despatch No of the th ultimo the newly formed Parliamentary free minded fraction advocate in their pro- gramme the formation of a responsible Ministry for the Empire. This seems to have excited the apprehension of some of the Federal Governments, and Saxony and Wurtemberg instructed their Representatives to make a declaration on the subject to the Federal Council on the th ultimo and invite an interchange of views from the Prussian and other Governments. At the meeting of last Saturday the Prussian Representatives handed in a declaration on the part of their Government, which is given “in extenso” in the enclosed Report.
    [Show full text]
  • EUI Working Papers
    ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES EUI Working Papers RSCAS 2009/40 ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES TRANSNATIONAL MOVEMENTS BETWEEN COLONIAL EMPIRES: MIGRANT WORKERS FROM THE BRITISH CAPE COLONY IN THE GERMAN DIAMOND TOWN LÜDERITZBUCHT Ulrike Lindner EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Transnational movements between colonial empires: Migrant workers from the British Cape Colony in the German diamond town Lüderitzbucht ULRIKE LINDNER EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2009/40 This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the author(s), editor(s). If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author(s), editor(s), the title, the working paper, or other series, the year and the publisher. The author(s)/editor(s) should inform the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the EUI if the paper will be published elsewhere and also take responsibility for any consequential obligation(s). ISSN 1028-3625 © 2009 Ulrike Lindner Printed in Italy, August 2009 European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy www.eui.eu/RSCAS/Publications/ www.eui.eu cadmus.eui.eu Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), directed by Stefano Bartolini since September 2006, is home to a large post-doctoral programme. Created in 1992, it aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Award of Excellence 2017 First Place the Extent and Effects of German-Boer Collaboration During the First World War
    Journal of Military and Strategic VOLUME 18, ISSUE 1 Studies Annual Award of Excellence 2017 First Place The Extent and Effects of German-Boer Collaboration During the First World War: A Comprehensive and Chronological Analysis Christian De Jager Introduction Perceptions of shared ethnic heritage have long served as a basis for the development of political and cultural relationships throughout the history of the international system. Wars have been fought, countries have been formed and nations have been liberated through the active cooperation of ethnic entities who view each other more so as part of their same identity rather than the "other." Just as the Russian Empire, acting as the protectors of Pan-Slavism, would come to the aid of their Slavic Serbian brothers as the First World War erupted in 1914,1 so too would the German Empire rush to support their Germanic descendants in Southern Africa. The Boer Rebellion of 1914 would see the culmination of a reciprocal ethnic relationship (having evolved from a foundation of ethno-linguistic ties) manifest itself in a pragmatic military and political alliance during the First World War. As the most fiercely 1 Geoffrey Wawro, A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire (New York: Basic Books, 2014), p. 51. ©Centre of Military and Strategic Studies, 2017 ISSN : 1488-559X VOLUME 18, ISSUE 1 combative portion of the South-West Africa campaign,2 the Boer Rebellion embodied the culmination of both imperial rivalry and Social-Darwinian doctrine in early twentieth-century international politics, serving simultaneously as an exhibit for the truly global dimensions of the First World War.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cape-To-Cairo Dream a Study in British Imperialism
    THE CAPE-TO-CAIRO DREAM A STUDY IN BRITISH IMPERIALISM BY LOIS A. C. RAPHAEL, A. M. :UBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FAcULTY OF PoLITICAL SciENCE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK 1936 CECIL JOHX p_pn~~- Drawing by the Duchess of Rutland, reproduced with the permission of The Rhodes Trustees THE CAPE-TO-CAIRO DREAM A STUDY IN BRITISH IMPERIALISM BY· LOIS A. C. RAPHAEL, A. M. SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCIOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY oF PoLmCAL SciENCE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ILLUSTRAtED No.q:J...'<. in the nstUdies in History, . ECOV""'tliC~ . Old. .PUt"')l1c law'' ot· Columbl.q. _llni.-e:&.'"S.Lli7 NEW YORK 1936 CoPY&IGHT, 1936 BY CoLUMBIA UNIV.U.SI1Y PRESS PRINTED IN THB UNITED STATES OF AM.U.ICA THE :U:EilORY 01' PARKER THOMAS MOON " What was attempted by Alexander, Cambyses, and .. Napoleon we practical people are going to finish.", CECU. RHODES. PREFACE IN 1815, British interest in Africa aside from some settle­ ments on the West Coast, centered around Cape Colony in the south and Egypt in the north. Between these two ex­ tremes stretched some four thousand six hundred miles of country unoccupied and largely unexplored by white men. By 1900, however, except for a block of German territory between the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and the first parallel of south latitude, British influence was paramount from Cape Town to Alexandria. An essential feature of this expansion through the Dark Continent was the development of lines of communication.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scramble for Africa Main Idea in the Late 1800S and Early 1900S, European Powers Claimed Land in Much of Africa
    • Anything surprising about this photo? What do you think happened here? If you were a newspaper writer, what title or caption would you give this photo? The Scramble for Africa Main Idea In the late 1800s and early 1900s, European powers claimed land in much of Africa. Essential Questions • What factors led to the new imperialism? • How did European powers claim territory in Africa? • How did Africans resist European imperialism? 1 How does this cartoon demonstrate the ―new imperialism?‖ The New Imperialism European countries controlled only small part of Africa in 1880; but by 1914 only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent. • Under New Imperialism, European powers competed to rapidly divide up Africa • Period known as ―Scramble for Africa‖ – Most visible example of new imperialism – New imperialism not based on settlement of colonies – European powers worked to directly govern large areas occupied by non-European peoples – Driven by economic interests, political competition, cultural motives Source for European Raw Nationalism Materials Industrial Missionary Revolution Activity European Markets for Military Finished Motives Goods & Naval For Colonization Bases Social Darwinism Places to European Dump Racism Unwanted/ Excess Popul. Humanitarian Soc. & Eco. “White Reasons Opportunities Man’s Burden” 2 Economic Interests Raw Materials Entrepreneurial Colonization • Before early 1800s, several European • To gather, export natural resources, nations profited from slave trade in European entrepreneurs developed Africa own mines, plantations,
    [Show full text]
  • University of the Witwatersrand
    \ UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND AFRICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE African Studies Seminar Paper to be presented at Seminar in RW 319 at 4,00 p.m. on Monday, 20 August 1984. AN ILLUSION OF UNITY: UITLANDER POLITICS BEFORE THE ANGLO-BOER WAR Dr. Diana Cammack The spectacle of thousands of British subjects kept permanently in the position of helots, con- stantly chafing under undoubted grievances, and calling vainly to Her Majesty's Government for redress, does steadily undermine the influence and reputation of Great Britain and the respect for the British Government in its own dominions. 1 In this, the famous 'helot telegram', Milner was careful to present the Uitlanders of the Witwatersrand as a unified, aggrieved community which eagerly pressed him to involve _the British colonial government in the domestic affairs of the South African Republic. This portrait of the Uitlanders is not unique, for the vast majority of official cables originat- ing in southern Africa, as well as the Reformers1 published writings presented a picture of an oppressed British community, irrevocably joined together in its struggle to eliminate a variety of practices — enumerated as "grievances" and to win the Republican franohise. Most political historians since that time have adopted this view of the Rand community, which has encouraged their acceptance of the Colonial Office's account of the grievance agitation and the local cause of the Boer War. Consequently, too many of us were taught this version as students. But there is another view of the Uitlander community, and one whbh Milner and his subordinates Knew to be true. Only a month before Milner sent his •helot telegram1, he received a confidential report of the situation from the British Agent in the Republic, Conyngham Greenes The truth is that the Uitlanders of Johannesburg are lacking now, as before, in Cohesion, and it is impossible to hope to hold them, for an indef- inite interval, together.
    [Show full text]
  • For There Was More Than One Unruly Section in the Union I South Africa Is
    GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA ever memorable; for there was more than one unruly section in the Union I South Africa is deserving of all praise for its early and complete pardon of the ill-advised leaders as well as the unfortunate rank and file in the Rebellion. On their part, the rebels, without being particularly abject, recognized the error of their ways. The soul of Dutch-speaking South Africa for years smarted under the after-effects of tremendous shocks, such as the dramatic deaths of De la Rey and Beyers and the equally painful capture and sentence of Christiaan de Wet. So long as the crowd is swayed by violent emotions, attempts to gauge the true perspective of events remains hopeless. In such days passion and imagination run riot. No wonder that Botha was anathematized "bloodhound" and "traitor" by those able to handle libellous aspersions in such a way as to gain them credence. 300 XXXVII BOTHA AND THE SOUTH-WEST CAMPAIGN HO could have thought at Vereeniging, on May 3 I, W 1902, that the Transvaal Commandant-General­ with scarcely half a dozen "marauding bands" under him then I-was destined to be seen in less than thirteen years in command of a completely equipped force of fifty thou­ sand-transports, motors, aeroplanes, and alII And further that this impromptu generalissimo, acting as a British ally, would within three months take a country as large as France from a European power, the Emperor of which had favoured a then friendly England with a plan of campaign against the Boers I Botha's plan of campaign, as well as the manner of its execution, has been praised by experts as a masterpiece.
    [Show full text]
  • The War in South Africa
    THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT BY A. CONAN DOYLE AUTHOR OF 'THE GREAT BOER WAR' Downloaded from www.gendatabase.com PUBLISHED BY SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON, S.W. All Copies for the Colonies and India supplied by G. BELL & SONS, London and Bombay 1902 [All rights reserved] PREFACE [v] FOR some reason, which may be either arrogance or apathy, the British are very slow to state their case to the world. At present the reasons for our actions and the methods which we have used are set forth in many Blue-books, tracts, and leaflets, but have never, so far as I know, been collected into one small volume. In view of the persistent slanders to which our politicians and our soldiers have been equally exposed, it becomes a duty which we owe to our national honour to lay the facts before the world. I wish someone more competent, and with some official authority, had undertaken the task, which I have tried to do as best I might from an independent standpoint. There was never a war in history in which the right was absolutely on one side, or in which no incidents of the campaign were open to criticism. I do not pretend that it was so here. But I do not think that any unprejudiced man can read the facts without acknowledging that the British Government has done its best to avoid war, and the British Army to wage it with humanity. To my publisher and to myself this work has been its own reward.
    [Show full text]