HC Deb 28 May 1900 vol 83 cc1587-9
MR. BRYN ROBERTS (Carnarvonshire, Eifion)

I have no desire to prolong the debate, but I venture to remind the right hon. Gentleman that this House has been practically muzzled on all questions relating to the war, and I think it is not unreasonable that we should avail ourselves of the only opportunity afforded us by the motion for the adjournment. I do not wish to go into the question, but I wish to draw attention to one matter, and to express the hope that we will receive from the Government some more satisfactory explanation than has been given to the allegations, serious and responsible allegations, made in the public press with respect to the methods of destruction by which the war has been carried on in the Free State, especially as regards the ravages made on private property. I put a question last week to the Under Secretary of State for War upon this very point, and received a very unsatisfactory answer; in fact, the only answer I received was from the Financial Secretary, who simply stated that he did not believe the allegation that was made. What I wish to point out is that we have a series of allegations of a serious nature made by responsible special correspondents of responsible papers. A gentleman who is well known makes a statement of information conveyed to him by the very officers engaged in the operations. I say when that is the case it is absurd to try to airily pass it over, or to say that we are not to believe it. In a letter from Bloomfontein, dated 29th April last, and published on 21st May, the correspondent says— The column commanded by General French, with General Pole-Carew at the head of the Guards and 18th Brigade, is marching in, burning practically everything on the road. It is followed by about 3,500 head of loot cattle and sheep. Hundreds of tons of corn and forage have been destroyed. The troops engaged in the work were Roberts's Horse, the Eastern Province Horse, the Canadians, and the Australians. They have seized over 1,000 rifles at various farmsteads and destroyed thousand of rounds of cartridges. I hear, too, that General Rundle burnt his way up to Dewetsdorp. Some painful stories are told of the march of the devastating armies by officers in charge of the execution. At one farm burned yesterday only women were left at work upon it. The troops were told that the owner had been captured with Cronje. Still, rifles were found hidden under the mattress of the bed. So the place had to go. Orders were inexorable in all cases where arms came to light. The woman who swore that her husband had been in commando for four months threw her arms round the officer's neck and begged that the homestead might be spared. It had to go. When the flames burst from the doomed place the poor woman threw herself on her knees, tore open her bodice, and bared her breasts, screaming: 'Shoot me, shoot me. I've nothing more to live for now that my husband is gone and our farm is burnt and our cattle taken!' That is from Mr. E. W. Smith, and I say when we have the statement that he received his information from the officers in charge we are entitled to have some further information, and not an airy denial of the statements that have been made. Do hon. Members say that if there was a French or German invasion of England it would be within the usages of civilisation for our English farmers to have their homesteads burned and cattle looted because they had firearms in their possession? In the case referred to the farm had to go because there were arms found under the mattress. The correspondent further says— Another officer told me of a similar case. 'I am a hard-hearted fellow,' he said, ' hut I couldn't stand the women crying, and in one instance I did leave a farm standing that I ought to have destroyed.' A third case has been related to me of a farm where the property was confiscated, while the owner was lying dying in another room. As the soldiers ransacked the place they heard a pitiable voice crying from an inner room: 'What are they doing? What are they doing?' and as the firing parties withdrew from the ruined homesteads they were frequently followed by groups of weeping women and children, who covered them with epithets of bitter complaint and denunciation. I hear that Lord Roberts had given preliminary warning that any burghers not found on their homesteads would be treated as hostile and their property dealt with accordingly. In the case of an invasion of this country, would the French army be entitled to go to Sir Redvers Buller's house, and for the same reason, burn the house and all his property? I submit that in view of these facts nothing can justify the attempt made by the Financial Secretary to the War Office to deny what has been done. English generals and English politicians! I say it is a disgrace to the generals who executed the orders, and to the politicians who defend them. There is no possible justification for such outrages. The only excuse made is that there is danger possibly of these persons taking up arms again. If that is the danger apprehended why not take the men prisoners? I say it is a disgrace to civilisation and to England that such things should be permitted. The correspondent goes on to say— The execution of a whole district was of course accompanied by strange scenes, some of bloodthirsty violence, others of humour. Typical of the first was the sight of a party of "Tom men" of the Regular Army who got amongst a lot of pigs with the bayonet. They held the squeaking animals pinned to the ground with their weapons, while comrades applied the happy despatch. This has been done by the invading army. I quite recognise that it has been among the usages of war for a retreating army to burn and to devastate in a country, but this is the reverse of that case. This is an invading army burning and devastating the homes of the people they are driving before them. When we consider the disparity between the contending forces, the discredit is greater still. The invading army is at least five to one as compared with the Boers.

DR. TANNER

Ten to one.

MR. BRYN ROBERTS

The British nation with their allies in Australia and Canada are 50,000,000, and these small nations are only one-fifth of a million, so the disparity is as 250 to one. To realise what these poor people are struggling against we have to try to picture this nation fighting against a nation with a population of 12,500,000,000. If this country was fighting eight worlds at once, we would then be fighting a foe that was stronger than us only in the same proportion as we are stronger than the Boers. Under these circumstances, instead of straining the rules of war we ought to go to the other extreme, and be more generous than usual.