"Boer Ultimatum Means War," Mail and Empire, 11 Oct., 1899, p. 1.
This headline calling upon the British to withdraw their growing military forces from the borders of the Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State warned Canadians of the seriousness of the conflict which had been brewing in South Africa during the late spring and early summer of 1899. It also illustrates the important part played by the Canadian press whose use of new illustrative techniques and connection to intercontinental cable lines during the nineties increased its power of persuasion and created a sense of immediacy and participation hitherto unknown.
The second photograph shows an unsoldierly lot of new recruits shivering from the cold in the Halifax dawn. The response to the propaganda in the press was surprisingly immediate given the remoteness of the conflict from Canadian life.
Courtesy: National Library of Canada Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia
