, &c. It reminds one of a child's game of make-believe. There is the
same pompous air of reality. "This is the shop and you are the
shopwoman. Good morning, Mrs. Snooks, I have come to buy a pound of
sugar." Unfortunately the facts remain. I find that some of the
shrewdest onlookers out here are just beginning to feel a sort of half
doubt whether we shall ever conquer the country at all. It depends on
whether the home Government and press give up their babyish "let's
pretend" attitude and face the difficulties of the situation.
All this is very sad and lugubrious, is it not? and I daresay you think
me a croaker; but there is a melancholy satisfaction in trying to see
things as they are, and I believe what I have told you is nearer the
truth than what you get from the papers. I only hope I may turn out to
be wrong.
I add a note (January 12th) from Ventersberg, where we have just
arrived. This has been our last trek, we believe. Rimington takes
command of his regiment, and the corps, like the rest of the Colonial
Division, will be paid off. I have a vision of a great blue steamer with
a bow like a cliff bursting her way through the seas on her homeward
voyage. And yet I can scarcely believe it.
Bad news waits us here. They say the Colony is rising. Now mark my
words. If we don't watch it, we shall end by bringing about the very
state of things we have been dreading.
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