A letter from a Son of Dr. Moffat may have some interest here. It is
dated December 20th, 1899.

The Rev. John Moffat, son of the famous Dr. Moffat, and himself for a
long time resident in South Africa, has sent to a friend in London a
letter regarding the relations of the British and Dutch races previous
to the war. Mr. Moffat, throughout his varied experiences, has been a
special friend to the natives. One of his younger sons, Howard, is with
a force of natives 60 miles south west of Khama's town (at the time of
writing, December 20th), and Dr. Alford Moffat, another son, was medical
officer to 300 Volunteers occupying the Mangwe Pass, to prevent a Boer
raid into Rhodesia at that point.

He writes:--

"1. _Had Steyn sat still and minded his own business_ no one would have
meddled with him. Had Kruger confined himself strictly to self-defence,
and _we_ had invaded _him_, we might have had to blame ourselves.

"2. To have placed an adequate defensive force on our borders before we
were sure that there was going to be war would have been accepted
(perhaps justly) by the Boers as a menace. We did not do it, out of
respect for their susceptibilities.

"3. To most people in South Africa who knew the Boers it was quite plain
that Kruger was all along playing what is colloquially known as the game
of 'spoof.' He never intended to make the slightest concession.

"4. Take them as a whole, the Boers are not pleasant people to live