SELECTED WRITINGS OF THE LATE WILLIAM MOORSOM LAURENCE, Major Commanding Left Wing Kimberley Horse & Editor of "The Diamond News"

Publisher's cloth binding with blind stamped floral design on front and back. Gilt titles to front panel & spine.

163pp.

Some discolouration to the cloth. Internally clean.

'This little volume contains many of Major Laurence's more important contributions to the press, together with the report of a speech made by him at Kimberley, on the subject of the annexation of Griqualand West to the Cape Colony. There are also obituary notices, and an Introduction by the editor, his brother, Sir Percival Maitland Laurence. With regard to the Zulu War, it is asserted that the causes of the campaign were insufficient, taking into consideration the prevailing habits of the country, and that the disaster at Isandhlwana was "a case of gross blundering all round." Much censure is bestowed upon the apathy of the townspeople of Pietermaritzburg, evident even after such serious engagements as those of Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, and it is stated that "the worthy burgesses all detest each other so much that they are perfectly incapable of making any united movement." Their conduct is contrasted with that of the inhabitants of Durban, a much smaller town, who raised a body of 700 volunteers, while Maritzburg only contributed 130 for a town guard. The correspondence describing the Basuto War is very valuable and interesting; the author was in command of the Kimberley Horse, and, in order to arrange the relief of a beleaguered garrison, rode with a solitary attendant through many miles of country surrounded by hostile natives. Major Laurence asserts very distinctly that the Boers supplied ammunition to the Basutos, and observes that, if necessary, he could furnish evidence by the ream. Mr. Sprigg's policy is severely denounced, the author remarking that "he had not a very clear idea of the line which separates truth from falsehood." ' - Mendelssohn Vol.I, pages 869-70