Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained. The sign + around words have been used to mark bolded text. The errors noted in the errata have been corrected in the text.] HISTORY OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902 [Illustration: Editor's arm.] COMPILED BY DIRECTION OF HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK MAURICE, K.C.B WITH A STAFF OF OFFICERS VOLUME I LONDON HURST AND BLACKETT LIMITED 1906 _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: The Chapel River Press Kingston Surrey.] PREFACE. The decision of His Majesty's late Government, mentioned on the first page of this history, was not finally given till November, 1905. It was, therefore, not till December 12th, 1905, that I was able to obtain approval for the form in which the political facts connected with the war are mentioned in the first chapter. Since then the whole volume has necessarily been recast, and it was not possible to go to page proof till the first chapter had been approved. Hence the delay in the appearance of the volume. I took over the work from Colonel Henderson in July, 1903. He had not then written either narrative of, or comments on, the military operations. F. MAURICE. _May 22nd, 1906, London._ CONTENTS. VOLUME I. CHAP. PAGE