[To THE EDITOR OF THR "SPECTATOR,) Sin,—In your edition of
last week in a letter concerning Lord Kitchener Sir George Arthur makes the following statement:— " The strictures of the editor of the Spectator on the
policy of blockhouse lines can best be countered by the candid admission of the Boer leaders themselves, who averred that this system, and this system only, compelled them finally to open negotiations for peace."
He then proceeds to inform us that "this admission was explicitly made by both General Botha and General De Wet immediately after terms had been arranged at Vereeniging." How can Sir George Arthur reconcile the above statement with the following taken from General De Wet's book, " Three Years' War " F--
"The building of these blockhouses cost many thousands of pounds, and still greater were the expenses incurred in providing the soldiers in them with food, which had to be fetched up by special convoys. And it was all money thrown away! and worse than thrown away ! for when I come to describe how I broke through these blockhouse lines the reader will see that this wonderful scheme of the English prolonged the war for at least three months."
Moreover, De Wet asserts that a more successful device of the English was their system of night attacks led by " national
Previous page
