The Bond Press, always on the alert to reproach England, seized hold of the establishment of the Camps to transform into martyrs the persons who had been transferred to them, and soon a wave of indignation swept over not only South Africa, but also over Britain.

This necessary act of human civilisation was twisted to appear as an abuse of power on the part of Lord Roberts and especially of Lord Kitchener, who, in this affair, became the scapegoat for many sins he had never committed.

The question of the Concentration Camps was made the subject of interpellations in the House of Commons, and indignation meetings were held in many parts of England.

The Nonconformist Conscience was deeply stirred at what was thought to be conduct which not even the necessities of war could excuse.

Torrents of ink were spilt to prove that at the end of the nineteenth century measures and methods worthy of the Inquisition were resorted to by British Government officials, who--so the ready writers and ready-tongued averred--with a barbarity such as the Middle Ages had not witnessed, wanted to be revenged on innocent women and children for the resistance their husbands and fathers were making against an aggression which in itself nothing could justify.
So far as the Boers themselves were concerned, I think that a good many among them viewed the subject with far more equanimity than the English public.