three of the accused officers, Handcock, Wilton, and Morant, were sentenced to death, while another, Picton, was cashiered.  Handcock and Morant were actually executed.  This stern measure shows more clearly than volumes of argument could do how high was the standard of discipline in the British Army, and how heavy was the punishment, and how vain all excuses, where it had been infringed.  In the face of this actual outrage and its prompt punishment how absurd becomes that crusade against imaginary outrages preached by an ignorant press abroad, and by renegade Englishmen at home.

To the south of Johannesburg, half-way between that town and the frontier, there is a range of hills called the Zuikerboschrand, which extends across from one railway system to the other.  A number of Boers were known to have sought refuge in this country, so upon February 12th a small British force left Klip River Post in order to clear them out.  There were 320 men in all, composing the 28th Mounted Infantry, drawn from the Lancashire Fusiliers, Warwicks, and Derbys, most of whom had just arrived from Malta, which one would certainly imagine to be the last place where mounted infantry could be effectively trained.  Major Dowell was in command.  An advance was made into the hilly country, but it was found that the enemy was in much greater force than had been imagined.  The familiar Boer tactics were used with the customary success.  The British line was held by a sharp fire in front, while strong flanking parties galloped round each of the wings.  It was with great difficulty that any of the British extricated themselves from their perilous position, and the safety of a portion of the force was only secured by the devotion of a handful of officers and men, who gave their lives in order to gain time for their comrades to get away.  Twelve killed and fifty wounded were our losses in this unfortunate skirmish, and about one hundred prisoners supplied the victors with a useful addition to their rifles and ammunition.  A stronger British force came up next day, and the enemy were driven out of the hills.

A week later, upon February 18th, there occurred another skirmish at Klippan, near Springs, between a squadron of the Scots Greys and a party of Boers who had broken into this central reserve which Lord Kitchener had long kept clear of the enemy.  In this action the cavalry were treated as roughly as the mounted infantry had been the week before, losing three officers killed, eight men killed or wounded, and forty-six taken.  They had formed a flanking party to General Gilbert Hamilton’s column, but were attacked and overwhelmed so rapidly that the blow had fallen before their comrades could come to their assistance.