that I was myself the object of this honourable welcome.
I will not chronicle the details of what followed.
It is sufficient to say that many hundreds of the
people of Durban took occasion to express their joy
at my tiny pinch of triumph over the Boers, and that
their enthusiasm was another sincere demonstration
of their devotion to the Imperial cause, and their
resolve to carry the war to an indisputable conclusion.
After an hour of turmoil, which I frankly admit I
enjoyed extremely, I escaped to the train, and the
journey to Pietermaritzburg passed very quickly in
the absorbing occupation of devouring a month’s
newpapers and clearing my palate from the evil taste
of the exaggerations of Pretoria by a liberal antidote
of our own versions. I rested a day at Government
House, and enjoyed long conversations with Sir Walter
Hely-Hutchinson—the Governor under whose
wise administration Natal has become the most patriotic
province of the Empire. Moreover, I was fortunate
in meeting Colonel Hime, the Prime Minister of the
Colony, a tall, grey, keen-eyed man, who talked only
of the importance of fighting this quarrel out to
the end, and of the obstinate determination of the
people he represented to stand by the Queen’s
Government through all the changing moods of fortune.
I received then and have since been receiving a great
number of telegrams and messages from all kinds of
people and from all countries of the earth. One
gentleman invited me to shoot with him in Central Asia.
Another favoured me with a poem which he had written
in my honour, and desired me to have it set to music
and published. A third—an American—wanted
me to plan a raid into Transvaal territory along the
Delagoa Bay line to arm the prisoners and seize the
President. Five Liberal Electors of the borough
of Oldham wrote to say that they would give me their
votes on a future occasion ‘irrespective of
politics.’ Young ladies sent me woollen
comforters. Old ladies forwarded their photographs;
and hundreds of people wrote kind letters, many of
which in the stir of events I have not yet been able
to answer.
[Illustration: Map of THE THEATRE OF THE OPERATIONS
IN NATAL]
The correspondence varied vastly in tone as well as
in character, and I cannot help quoting a couple of
telegrams as specimens. The first was from a
worthy gentleman who, besides being a substantial farmer,
is also a member of the Natal Parliament. He
wrote: ’My heartiest congratulations on
your wonderful and glorious deeds, which will send
such a thrill of pride and enthusiasm through Great
Britain and the United States of America, that the
Anglo-Saxon race will be irresistible.’
The intention of the other, although his message was
shorter, was equally plain.
’London, December 30th.—Best
friends here hope you won’t go making further
ass of yourself.—M’NEILL.’
This shows, I think, how widely human judgment may
differ even in regard to ascertained facts.