BRONICHORSTSPRIJIT.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
&R,—Your correspondent, Mr. F. Reginald Statham, cites, as an outstanding example of alleged "extra-
ordinary misstatements of fact" in the letter of "E. J. W.," the latter's reference to the shooting of British soldiers at Bronkhorstspruit in cold blood under a flag of truce.
Mr. Statham seems to imagine that "E. J. W.'s" state- ment can be summarily disposed of by an indignant contradiction, based apparently on nothing more reliable than the former's recollection, at a distance of eighteen years, of a remark by Sir Evelyn Wood in a private conversation. It would be interesting to have Sir E. Wood's own version of what he said at the conversation alluded to.
For the present, however, it is enough to point out that, un- fortunately for Mr. Statham's contradiction, the substantial truth of "E. J. W.'s " statement is borne out by the official despatch from the officer in command of the British troops, Colonel Anstruther, dated six days after the incident took place, and published in the Gazette. That despatch is a plain, authoritative narration of the facts as they occurred, and probably you may be able to find room for the following portion of it which is specially relevant to the present corre- spondence :—
"The Boers sent forward a flag of truce half-way between the lines, and I walked to meet ft. The bearer handed me an English letter, signed by Piet Joubert, and countersigned by other Boers, requesting me to wait at the spot where I then was until a reply had been received to an ultimatum that had been sent to Sir Owen Lanyon. I told the interpreter I could not do so, as I had orders to proceed with all possible despatch to Pretoria, and that I had no wish to meet him hostilely. He said that he would take my message to the Commandant-General, and I asked him to let me know the result, to which he nodded assent. Almost immediately, however, the enemy's line advanced. I ran back as fast as I could, ordering the leading company to skirmish, but before they could open out to more than loose files a murderous fire was poured upon them, which was as hotly returned. The fire lasted for less than a quarter of an hour, when, observing that all the officers and about two out of three of the non-commissioned officers and men were either dead or wounded, I ordered the 'cease fire' to be sounded, and hoisted a flag of truce to save the lives of the remainder."
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