BRONKHORSTSPRUIT.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sia,—It would take far too long to follow your corre- spondent, " E. J. W.," through all his extraordinary mis- statements of fact with regard to the Transvaal. There is one, however, in respect of which, I venture to think, a con- tradiction is, under present circumstances, imperatively called for. I refer to his statement that at Bronkhorstspruit "one hundred and forty British soldiers were shot in cold blood under a flag of truce." This is only a revival of the old story about a "massacre." I may say, therefore, that in November, 1881, less than a year after the occurrence, Sir Evelyn Wood, in my presence and in the presence of several military officers and civilians (including the late Sir Robert Fowler, M.P.), emphatically gave it as his opinion that the Bronkhorstspruit affair was "a fair fight." I am one of those who regard a war between Great Britain and the Transvaal as something more than absolutely unnecessary. But even if I thought such a war could be justified, I should consider it a miserable busi- ness to go about slandering my enemy beforehand.—I am,
National Liberal Club, September 27th.
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