Having spent the greater part of the Anglo-Boer war time in the Cape Colony, we had the opportunity of ascertaining some, if not all, of the reasons why so many Colonial British subjects took up arms against the forces of their lawful king and sovereign.  These causes we shall here narrate.  By doing this we do not justify the action of those whose sympathies led them to cast in their lot with the two Republics.  We do not wish to inculcate or foster the spirit of rebellion in any man, nor to fan it by words of approval.  But we do wish to make known to the British public in particular that those Dutch colonists who sided with the late Republics during the lamentable war did not do so because they hated British rule or government or longed to shed the blood of English fellow-subjects.  Neither did they enlist in our ranks because they regarded war as an adventurous game and mere child’s play.  In most cases the rebels were, prior to the war, as loyal to the British crown, and as devoted to British rule, as their fellow-English colonists ever were or could have been.  For they had been born and brought up under the British flag; they knew no other, desired no better, even gloried in the flag of England.  To it they looked for succour and protection in the hour of danger.  Before the war the very men who fought against the British would have volunteered their services, at a moment’s notice, to the Home Government if England was threatened in any way.  Most of them, we are sure, would have willingly sacrificed their goods, and even lives, to shield the interests of the British Empire.

Now when these Dutch colonists took up arms they did not do so blindly, but fully realised the grave responsibility involved in such a step.  They knew that the action was treasonable, and that, when captured, they were liable to the utmost penalty of the law, such as confiscation of goods, banishment, imprisonment for life, or death.  Some of them, before they enlisted, had been compelled by the military authorities to be present at the execution of those who had unfortunately fallen into the hands of the enemy.  In spite of that most tangible warning, they nevertheless joined the Boer ranks.  What then were their reasons for risking their very lives in a cause which might perhaps fail?  Surely such men as rose in rebellion had potent and valid reasons!  To be stigmatised for life by the title of rebel could not be deemed so great an honour as to induce a man to face all the dangers and hardships of war.  Nor were these colonial rebels mercenaries; they were volunteers, that came to the assistance of two small republics.

Those who were acquainted with the situation and with the political parties at the Cape prior to the war expected and dreaded, in the event of war with the Republics, a general outbreak in the Cape Colony, and were not surprised when their expectations proved true.