Discipline
was low and individualism high in the Boer army. Every man might
repudiate the decision of his commandant, as every man might
repudiate the white flag of his comrade. On the first day no more
than eleven hundred men of the Ficksburg and Ladybrand commandos,
with fifteen hundred horses and two guns, were surrendered. next
day seven hundred and fifty more men came in with eight hundred
horses, and by August 6th the total of the prisoners had mounted to
four thousand one hundred and fifty with three guns, two of which
were our own. But Olivier, with fifteen hundred men and several
guns, broke away from the captured force and escaped through the
hills. Of this incident General Hunter, an honourable soldier,
remarks in his official report: 'I regard it as a dishonourable
breach of faith upon the part of General Olivier, for which I hold
him personally responsible. He admitted that he knew that General
Prinsloo had included him in the unconditional surrender.' It is
strange that, on Olivier's capture shortly afterwards, he was not
court-martialled for this breach of the rules of war, but that
good-natured giant, the Empire, is quick--too quick, perhaps--to
let byegones be byegones.
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