was Commander-in-Chief. One can hardly believe that
he really thought it possible thus to nullify Prinsloo's
act. But he certainly behaved as if he did, and his
ingenuous conduct must have afforded much amuse-
ment to the English general.

If any one is in doubt as to what was the result of
General Roux's absurd escapade, I have only to say
that the English had one prisoner the more!
Those who escaped were but few. Of all our large
forces, there were only Generals Froneman, Fourie
and De Villiers (of Harrismith); Commandants
Hasebroek, Olivier, Visser, Kolbe, and a few others;
a small number of burghers, and six or seven guns,
that did not fall into the hands of the English.

What, then, is to be our judgment on this act of
Prinsloo and of the other chief officers in command
of our forces behind the Roodebergen?

That it was nothing short of an act of murder, com-
mitted on the Government, the country, and the
nation, to surrender three thousand men in such a
way. Even the burghers themselves cannot be held
to have been altogether without guilt, though they
can justly plead that they were only obeying orders.

The sequel to Prinsloo's surrender was on a par
with it. A large number of burghers from Harri-
smith and a small part of the Vrede commando,
although they had already made good their escape,
rode quietly from their farms into Harrismith, and
there surrendered to General Sir Hector Macdonald.
--One could gnash one's teeth to think that a nation
should so readily rush to its own ruin!

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