On the 15th of
February, Kimberley was relieved; and shortly afterwards the Boer general
Cronje, with his entire army of upwards of four thousand men, surrendered
to Lord Roberts at Paardeberg.
After several gallant attempts, General Buller finally succeeded in
relieving Ladysmith, which had been besieged by the Boers for four mouths.
Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, was next captured by Lord
Roberts; and on the 17th of May, Mafeking was relieved. The brave little
garrison of this town, under their able and dauntless leader,
Baden-Powell, had endured the greatest privations, and during a siege of
seven months had maintained the most marvellously gallant defence of
modern times.
Before the end of May, Johannesburg surrendered to Lord Roberts; and on
the 5th of June he hoisted the British flag in Pretoria, the capital of
the Transvaal. About the same time the Orange Free State was annexed to
Great Britain under the name of the Orange River Colony; and on the 1st of
September the Transvaal was declared British territory.
The most striking feature of this war was the loyalty and enthusiasm
displayed by the colonies in the cause of the mother-country. Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand vied with each other in sending volunteers to
fight for and uphold the rights of their fellow-colonists in South Africa,
thus giving to the world such an evidence of the unity of the British
Empire as it had never before seen.
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