With the Boer Forces | Page 8

could
be heard in the corridors. Occasionally a Boer burgher on leave of
absence from the front appeared at the hotels for a respite from army
rations, or to attend the funeral of a comrade in arms, but the foreigners
were always predominant. Across the street, in the War Department,
there were busy scenes when the volunteers applied for their
equipments, and frequently there were stormy actions when the
European tastes of the men were offended by the equipment offered by
the Department officials. Men who desired swords and artistic
paraphernalia for themselves and their horses felt slighted when the
scant but serviceable equipment of a Boer burgher was offered to them,
but sulking could not remedy the matter, and usually they were content
to accept whatever was given to them. Former officers in European
armies, noblemen and even professional men were constantly arriving
in the city, and all seemed to be of the same opinion that commissions
in the Boer army could be had for the asking. Some of these had their
minds disabused with good grace, and went to the field as common
burghers; others sulked for several weeks, but finally joined a
commando, and a few returned to their homes without having heard the
report of a gun. For those who chose to remain behind and enjoy the
peacefulness of Pretoria, there was always enough of novelty and
excitement among the foreigners to compensate partly for missing the
events in the field.
The army contractors make their presence felt in all countries which are
engaged in war, and Pretoria was filled with them. They were in the
railway trains running to and from Lorenzo Marques; in the hotel
corridors, in all the Government departments, and everywhere in the
city. A few of the naturalised Boers, who were most denunciatory of
the British before the war and urged their fellow-countrymen to resort
to arms, succeeded in evading the call to the field and were most
energetic in supplying bread and supplies to the Government. Nor was
their patriotism dimmed by many reverses of the army, and they
selfishly demanded that the war should be continued indefinitely.
Europeans and Americans who partook of the protection of the
Government in times of peace, were transformed by war into grasping,

insinuating contractors who revelled in the country's misfortune.
Englishmen, unworthy of the name, enriched themselves by furnishing
sinews of war to their country's enemy, and in order to secure greater
wealth sought to prolong the war by cheering disheartened Boers and
expressing faith in their final success. The chambers of the Government
building were filled with men who had horses, waggons, flour, forage
and clothing to offer at exorbitant prices, and in thousands of instances
the embarrassed Government was obliged to pay whatever sums were
demanded. Hand-in-hand with the contractors were the speculators who
were taking advantage of the absence of the leading officials to secure
valuable concessions, mining claims, and even gold mines. Before the
war, when hordes of speculators and concession-seekers thronged the
city, the scene was pathetic enough, but when all shrewd Raad
members were at the front and unable to guard their country's interests
the picture was dark and pitiful.
Pretoria seemed to have but one mood during the war. It was never
deeply despondent nor gay. There was a sort of funereal atmosphere
throughout the city, whether its residents were rejoicing over a Spion
Kop or suffering from the dejection of a Paardeberg. It was the same
grim throng of old men, women, and children who watched the
processions of prisoners of war and attended the funerals at the quaint
little Dutch church in the centre of the city. The finest victories of the
army never changed the appearance of the city nor the mood of its
inhabitants. There were no parades nor shouting when a victory was
announced, and there was the same stoical indifference when the news
of a bitter defeat was received. A victory was celebrated in the Dutch
church by the singing of psalms, and a defeat by the offering of prayers
for the success of the army.
The thousands of British subjects who were allowed to remain in the
Transvaal, being of a less phlegmatic race, were not so calm when a
victory of their nation's army was announced, and when the news of
Cronje's surrender reached them they celebrated the event with almost
as much gusto as if they had not been in the enemy's country. A fancy
dress ball was held in Johannesburg in honour of the event, and a
champagne dinner was given within a few yards of the Government

buildings in Pretoria, but a few days later all the celebrants were
transported across the border by order of the Government.
One of the pathetic features of Pretoria was the