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395.
Had the British initiated hoe Wi]. itian, the peace party
might have put up a stronger front against the war. An it
was the peace movement largely collapsed after the Doer
attack on 2tatal. That the outbreak of the war waa" in the
natura of a fait accompli; once war had broken out, it
wan easy for the Government to appeal to patriotism,
especially in view of the fact that ßritioh forces were
qt first defeated. The immediate task became the conquest
of the Transvaal. Not many people demanded that the war
be stopped immediately, Discussion chiftod to the administration
of the war or the terms of the final aettlonent. Thus
anti-war feeling could be dramatically silenced from mid.
October onwards.
Before the Boer attack, the most numerous group
of anti, -war roaolutione came from mainly Nonaonf ormint
religious bodiea. There wore one hundred and twenty-raven
Nonconformist resolutions und twenty-one from cue"ICora
forwarded to the Colonial Office. Together these were
more than a quarter of the total resolutions ' one third of
all revolutions up to the outbreak of war$ and over one
half of all the peace resolutions. Almost half come from
the north of Englund and they were thus typical of the