'It is hereby notified,'
said the document, 'to all burghers that if after this date they
voluntarily surrender they will be allowed to live with their
families in Government laagers until such time as the guerilla
warfare now being carried on will admit of their returning safely
to their homes. All stock and property brought in at the time of
the surrender of such burghers will be respected and paid for if
requisitioned.' This wise and liberal offer was sedulously
concealed from their men by the leaders of the fighting commandos,
but was largely taken advantage of by those Boers to whom it was
conveyed. Boer refugee camps were formed at Pretoria, Johannesburg,
Kroonstad, Bloemfontein, Warrenton; and other points, to which by
degrees the whole civil population came to be transferred. It was
the reconcentrado system of Cuba over again, with the essential
difference that the guests of the British Government were well fed
and well treated during their detention. Within a few months the
camps had 50,000 inmates.
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